This site is my way to share my views and general business and IT information with you about Microsoft, IT solutions for ISVs, technologists and businesses, large and small. I specialise in Windows Intune and SBS 2008.

I recently fell of the back of a boat which resulted in my faithful Samsung Omnia being written off. Since this was a personal phone, I decided to upgrade to a Nokia Lumia 800 as it looked like a fab phone. I have so far not been disappointed, however I hit two problems. The first was that my SIM was not a micro-sim. I contacted Virgin who told me they were very soon to launch a micro-sim, but not yet. I bought a 30-day sim from Vodafone in the short term, but then discovered that I could trim the current SIM to fit by following the detailed instructions at http://www.solutios.com/simcutting/ . All has been happy until my wife asked about sending MMS pictures from her phone. When I tried to do it from mine, I discovered that it kept on failing with an error and asking me to try again. This has been the second challenge that I have had with the phone! Searching the web found many frustrated people, some who had resorted to resetting their phones to factory defaults to get things working. I definitely did not want to do that. After pulling together information from a number of sources, this is what worked for me. I should thank John at Virgin's support desk as he also gave me the final piece to "enable" my account for MMS. As a note, I got the APN and MMS settings from the Virgin Mobile pages for an android phone - here for 3G and here for MMS. Here is what I did: Download the Network Setup tool for the Lumia 800 (I suspect it is also available for the 610/710/900). If you don't have it, you can get it from http://windowsphone.com/s?appid=b95840dc-a542-42a6-bee4-7d1a12f62d2c Ran the tool, selected Virgin as the Operator Pressed the "+" at the bottom to select add apn Entered the following details Connection name: Virgin2 Under Internet APN Access point name: goto.virginmobile.uk Proxy address: 193.30.166.4 Proxy port: 8080 Username: user Password: ...

This is a very quick one. I saw the videos and saw that Ctrl-Alt-Del was turned off in Windows 8. While this can be done by setting the local security policy, it can also be done via command prompt. This is no different to other versions of Windows. If you search for cmd and then right click it to select Run as Administrator Then once cmd is running, use this command (it is all one line) to turn off C-A-D as a requirement: REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableCAD /t REG_DWORD /d 1 /f To turn it back on, use this command: REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System /v DisableCAD /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f That is it. ttfn David

Hi, I loaded Windows 8 Consumer Preview with some concerns about how the new interface would impact me. As a keyboard user, the Developer Preview just didn’t do enough for me, however Windows 8 is now my primary home OS and I’m loving it. What is more, my daughter is once again asking to have it (as she wants “Snap”) for her applications. So my top tips are: How to close a Metro Application There are two ways to do this – dragging the open application from the top of the screen to the bottom – you will see something like the screen below (top half is once it is grabbed and the bottom half is as it is dragged to the bottom of the screen). The second way to do this is to hover in the top left corner and one Metro application will show. However if we now scroll down the left edge the other open applications will show. We can now right click on one of those and select close. It is also worth noting that we can also snap the application to the left or right hand side of the screen too. Of course, move down to the bottom and you get your start menu. Dual Booting Windows 8 and Windows 7 This is quite simple and instructions can be found here in the answers forum , however – there is an option in the installer. I got the web installer from here . I clicked next a few times and then the installer was downloading: Then you choose Install on another Partition: That is it! Using Windows 8 with a keyboard and mouse So much attention has been paid to using Windows 8 with a touch device that some people think that using a reliable keyboard and mouse is far too difficult. It is different, but I soon got the hang of it. The very short video can be found here . ttfn David

I was keen to play with the Hyper-V R2 Service Pack 1 features, so I decided to download and install it, however I could not find anything that was not for Windows 7 or Windows Server (as opposed to Hyper-V Server). After asking internally I was pointed to what I needed. The process was fairly simple: Download the SP1 beta from the Microsoft site and ensure you answer the questions correctly as an IT Pro to ensure you get the opportunity to download. You will need to update both your Windows 7 / Windows Server client to manage the system as well as the Hyper-V Server, so you might need to download both the x86 and x64 versions as Hyper-V Server is x64 only. Remove the language packs that are not supported by the beta from the Hyper-V Server. To do this you will need to log into the console and run the LPKSETUP.exe program and remove anything that is not as part of the download package (English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish) Run the SP1 update on the Hyper-V Server Run the SP1 update on the Windows 7 Client Open the properties page in your Hyper-V Manager on Windows 7 SP1 and you can now edit the new properties Remember that Remote FX requires a Windows 7 SP1 (beta 1) guest and that Dynamic Memory requires (for the beta only) a Windows Enterprise or Datacenter guest with Standard and Web being supported when it is out of beta. See http://blogs.msdn.com/b/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2010/07/12/dynamic-memory-beta-supported-guest-operating-systems.aspx for some more details on dynamic memory support in the beta. thanks David Technorati Tags: Hyper-V , Hyper-V R2 , SP1 , Service Pack 1 , Dynamic Memory

I've had to tell a few people about this recently, so I thought I should actually write a blog post on this. The options are very simple and easy. Buy Windows 7 on DVD and use or buy a 4GB (or larger) USB Stick and then make a USB stick bootable and copy the files to the stick. Details on how to make it bootable can be found here - http://www.techmixer.com/install-windows-vista-from-bootable-usb-flash-memory-drive/ . You literally copy all the files from the DVD to the USB stick for this to work. To do this, enter this command into the run box (press Windows-Key + R) or a command prompt window - robocopy d:\ e:\ /s - this assumes that the DVD drive is D: and that the USB stick is E: - change them as required. Buy Windows 7 as an ISO from the Microsoft store ( http://emea.microsoftstore.com/uk/ ) and use the Microsoft tool from http://store.microsoft.com/Help/ISO-Tool to copy this to a USB stick (as mentioned above) buy a USB DVD Drive (not my preferred option) I hope this helps. David Technorati Tags: Windows 7 , Windows , ISO , Microsoft , Tips and Tricks

I’m often told that Microsoft licensing is complex, but what I actually find are that this either translates to “I have too many choices - ahhhh!” or “I can’t license in the way I want to” or “I can’t find the information I want to”. Option 1 is always going to happen – the more choice, the more complexity in making the right choice. Option 2 is often “I don’t want to buy lose licenses, why do I have to..” and Option 3 is poor communications on the part of Microsoft. To help with the Option 3 situation there is a new guide on the Microsoft Partner portal that explains one of the areas I’m often asked about – i.e. Windows client licensing. It is really simple. Here are the rules in summary (non-legally binding and please read the guide for full details): A PC has to licensed with a Full retail product (FPP, bought from a shop) or supplied with an OEM license (the OEM option can’t be used after the PC has been bought and supplied to the end user) Volume Licenses for Windows client is only available as an upgrade to the FPP / OEM eligible license Volume Licenses upgrade only apply to business versions, not Home editions, unless you are a qualifed academic customer and there is more information in the guide. I don’t think that is complex. To “Get Legal” there are various options too. For more details, have a look at this “Windows Licensing Fact Sheet” - download from here . Thanks David Technorati Tags: Windows 7 , Windows Client , Windows , Licensing , Microsoft , Partners , MSPP , Microsoft Partner Network

Today's post covers what to do when SBS says it no longer can change the WSUS settings from the console. The exact message is "Windows Small Business Server Update Service is not running because it automatically turns off if you customize Windows Server Update Services (WSUS)". One way round this problem is to manually change all the settings in the WSUS console (from Administrator Tools, select Microsoft Windows Update Services 3.0 SP1) and change the settings as per instructions found at http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2006/07/13/441594.aspx . I'm a sort of "quick fix" kind of guy, so the easier way is to go to the same tool, but then run the wizard. The steps are: Start the Wizard Click through the first two screens and set the updates to come from Microsoft Update Configure the proxy if required and press next. Then press Start Connecting. When done, press Next again. Select the language(s) you want to download Make sure "All Products" has been ticked Tick all the classifications - you can optionally leave out "Drivers" if desired Set the schedule - for me, 5am is a good quiet time on my server Tick to begin sync and press Finish. Now SBS Console will be back on the case for you. Ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBS 2008 , Small Business Server 2008 , Microsoft , SBSC

I got this question via e-mail and decided I would post the answer here in a blog. I want transfer all files created in Office Word 2003 by year (annual batchs - ex: 2005, 2006, etc.) to external HD. How can to do this? I will appreciate your answer. Edgar To do this via the command line you can use Robocopy which is present in Windows Vista and Windows 7. If you have Windows XP download the Server 2003 Resource Toolkit and install it. Robocopy will be part of the install and found in the install directory. The actual command would look like this and would need to be entered into a command prompt: for /L %x in (2009,-1,2000) do robocopy source destination \%x *.doc? /minage:%x0101 /maxage:%x1231 /s To break it down a bit.. for /L %x in (2009,-1,2000) do This creates a counter from 2009 up in steps of -1 (or down in steps of 1) until 2000 is reached. Each time the counter changes it is set into %x, so %x will become 2009, 2008 and so on. It then executes the command after to "do". robocopy source destination \%x *.doc? /minage:%x0101 /maxage:%x1231 /s The robocopy command is very flexible. Details of it can be found on the wiki page here . The first two parameters are the sounce and destination locations. so it might be c:\users\david\documents and F:\document_backup. Note the \%x on the end. This means it will put the files inside a folder on the destination location that matches the year you are archiving. *.doc? is a limiter to the files to be copied - if you want all files, simply remove it. This will copy all Office 2003 and 2007 document files - if you only want Office 2003, use *.doc and don't include the question mark. The minage and maxage state how old the file is. It can either be in days or a date in the form of yyyymmdd. So with the %x set to 2009, the command will have /minage:20090101 /maxage:20091231 which equates to everything in 2009 and so on. The /s copies all subdirectories too You can optionally put the /MOV...

Should you have a SBS 2000 system that you wish to move to SBS 2008 there is now a documented process on how to do this. Migrating Microsoft Small Business Server 2000 to Windows Small Business Server 2008 Outlines the steps necessary to migrate settings and data from an existing server running Microsoft Small Business Server 2000 to a new computer running Windows SBS 2008. File Name: Migrating_SBS2000_to_SBS2008.doc Date Published: 5/1/2009 Download Size:96 KB Download details: Migrating SBS 2000 to Windows SBS 2008 Note that Exchange is not migrated in itself, so PST backups of all mail folders is required using the process documented in the KB article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/196492 . Thanks David Technorati Tags: SBS 2008 , SBS 2000 , Migration , Microsoft

[updated 2nd May 2009] Hi everyone. My SBS 2008 book is in now available to order. Details below. If you want to ask questions once you have the book, go to http://davidoverton.com/r.ashx?13 . To order the book click http://davidoverton.com/r.ashx?1M Small Business Server 2008 – Installation, Migration, and Configuration David Overton Set up and run your small business server making it deliver big business impact · Step-by-step guidance through the installation and configuration process with numerous pictures · Successfully install SBS 2008 into your business, either as a new installation or by migrating from SBS 2003 · Configure hosted web sites for public and secure information exchange using Office Live for Small Business and Office Live Workspaces · An illustrative book for people with basic technical skills and no SBS background In More Detail Available April 2009. Order now! Cover price £24.99 Packt Special Offer £22.49 save 10% Multi-buy Discount £20.49 save 18% Hurray David Technorati Tags: SBS 2008 , Small Business Server 2008 , Book , Personal , If you only read one blog today , SBSC , Microsoft

I started to write about this at SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 migration thoughts and issues and Active Directory Health Checks , but after some discussion with the SBS team at Microsoft we now have much more: The Official SBS Blog : SBS 2008 Migrations from SBS 2003 – Keys to Success The purpose of this post is to help you complete your SBS 2003 migrations to SBS 2008 successfully on the first attempt. ……………… much, much more Use this information if you have a non-standard implementation or are concerned about the success of a migration. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Microsoft , SBS 2003 , SBS 2008 , Migration , SBSC , Small Business Server 2008

Want to know how to create amazing work in PowerPoint – look at the PowerPoint team blog! The PowerPoint Team Blog : A Picture + 1000 Words… We learn best by examples. And the better the example, the better the results. That’s why its a pleasure to point you to a new group of PowerPoint examples that are stunning, inventive, evocative… simply beautiful. Nice enough if it stops there, but each and every one of these examples includes very detailed instructions on how you can reconstruct the design, and learn how to apply the technique to your own work. Animation for graphics and text, static text effects, photographic effects, new background techniques, Smart Art and transition effects… this is a holiday present come early for PowerPoint users. And they’re free! Get them here . Here’s a small sample, which of course does not include the amazing animated designs. And in case you’re wondering, this is the work of PowerPoint MVP Julie Terberg of Terberg Design . Julie has done some amazing work for all you PowerPoint customers to benefit from and enjoy. Do let us know what you think! Amazing! ttfn David Technorati Tags: Microsoft , PowerPoint , Tips , Office System , Office 2007

I was going to include this in the book, but decided it was not quite the right subject matter, so I've decided to post it on the blog. SBS 2003 had a pre-defined tool for VPNs. The tool exists in SBS 2008 to produce the same tool, but you have to configure it by hand. This is covered in this blog entry here . If you are on a client machine and you need create a VPN connection, or you are a user and want to create a VPN on Windows Vista, follow this guide. Start at the Start menu . Press the Connect To button to start the process. You will be told that you are already connected to a network, but you will need to create a new connection. Do this by selecting the Set up a connection or Network option and press Connect . In the Choose a connection option screen, select the Connect to a workplace option and press Next . Now select Use my Internet connection (VPN) . The Internet address is that for your remote server. If you are using Small Business Server 2008 (SBS 2008) this will likely be "remote." and your e-mail domain, so for example if your e-mail was david@davidoverton.com then it would be remote.davidoverton.com . In the Internet address box type your address. Now type a description. For me, I would also suggest ticking the box Don't connect now; just set it up so I can connect later . Press Next to continue Type in your User name and Password . While you can tick the box Remember this password it is a security risk as anyone using your computer can then connect to your work domain without knowing your password. You will also need to know your domain name. If you do not know this right click on Computer in the Start menu and select properties . When the screen appears your domain name will be shown. Enter this information into the Domain (optional) box. You are now ready to connect. Press Connect Now to start a connection. Next time you press Connect To from the Start menu you will see your VPN in the list. Select it and press Connect . If your User name or password are not present (if you followed...

I recently built a Lite version of Vista using vLite . While most of the settings are simple enough to understand I’ve put up the screen shots that I used to build my slimed down Vista. First you need to select the compatibility options Then you need to step through the settings. Items ticked are REMOVED from the install of Vista. The rest is up for you to choose again. Have fun David

[updated 29/9/12 with new link] Given the recent comments about AD validation I thought I would share this excellent document on verifying your AD before you begin a migration (or at any other time) Active Directory Health Check - Active Directory This document outlines a basic procedure for validating the health of your domain and is a good practice for iterative maintenance and an excellent pre-check before doing any potentially dangerous domain operations I would add a couple of extra tests to the list in this document, which would be placed after the 1st DCDIAG test, also perform: DCDIAG /test:DNS /DNSALL /e /v DCDIAG /test:DcPromo /e /v DCDIAG /test:RegisterInDNS If you system passes these tests then it is a good indication of health. ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 , Windows Server 2008 , Active Directory , migration , Microsoft , SBSC , Partners

Someone posted this question on a discussion group at work and it got me thinking. If you bought a nice new system over the last 2 or so years in preparation for SBS 2008 (Cougar as was or even SBS v.Next) and had it installed with SBS 2003 you've probably heard that SBS 2003 to SBS 2008 is a 2 box migration and needs the Swing technique to do an on box migration. I've come up with a much simpler solution, but your hardware might need some additions to make it work. So here is what you need: Box with 6GB of RAM minimum (4GB for SBS 2008, 1GB for SBS 2003 and 1GB for Hyper-V server). 1 new disk for SBS 2008 system disk and 1 disk to hold Hyper-V (which could be small if desired or temporary) System that meets the minimum system requirements of Hyper-V ( http://www.microsoft.com/servers/hyper-v-server/system-requirements.mspx ) You need to ensure your hardware is really up to spec and is fit enough that you want your new SBS 2008 system to run on it for the next 2+ years, otherwise this may well be a false economy. The process in outline is below. If you need more detailed information, let me know and I'll knock something up (as well as this may possibly end up in the book) Take a full system backup before starting Take existing system and add RAM and 2 disks Install Hyper-V Server onto 1 disk Install Hyper-V manager onto a client PC ( see here for details ) Configure the network to all nodes can connect to a real physical network that has your internet router and firewall on it Configure a virtual machine with pass-through disks that point to each of your SBS 2003 disks. To make a disk visible in Hyper-V console as a pass-through see here . Only configure approx 1GB of memory as you only need it to run well enough to perform a migration. Start and boot the SBS 2003 VM. Check that all services start (or can be started if there is a timing issue) and that all data is available. Install the integration Services Setup disk, run the setup and reboot when asked Create another virtual machine with 4GB of RAM that...

[updated with net accounts command 20/2/2009] This can help diagnose and resolve the issue if like me, it was running fine and then it suddenly stops about 4-5 weeks after it all got started. My initial thought was that some update had changed things as the blog post here documented the initial setup where the same error was seen. The error once again looked like this: However checking all the same firewall and other settings revealed nothing. Finally I discovered that the user I had created had a password setting that meant the password had expired. Simple, yet checking from the command line is a right royal pain. To fix, these were the commands I used: net user <username> “<new or existing passsword>” /active:yes /expires:never /passwordchg:no net accounts /maxpwage:unlimited Simple, yet the cause of so much time trying to fix. Hopefully this will solve it for you too. Thanks David Technorati Tags: Microsoft , Hyper-V , Error , User , Password

This question has been asked many times and was once again asked today on an internal forum. It is hard to come up with an explicit answer, but I feel I can give you some (personal, non-binding, your mileage may vary, please take with a pinch of salt and don’t sue me) opinions. For SBS 2003 the non-scientific sizing appeared to go like this: “between 2 & 4GB of RAM, depending on number of users”. I often saw a machine for around 25 users with 4GB of RAM and there was headroom. Disk – don’t buy 1.5TB disks, but don’t by 30GB either. Buy largish and try to size data before you make the decision 1 CPU or 2, or perhaps more importantly, a box that can take 1 CPU or 2? The the time SBS 2008 arrived the difference in cost of a 2GB or 4GB box was trivial. Now SBS 2008, if you want to be scientific about it would look something like this: Minimum specs are found at http://www.microsoft.com/sbs/en/us/system-requirements.aspx Think Windows Server 2008 for x users, plus Exchange sizing for x users plus some wiggle for all the SBS 2008 bits, including WSS, Backup. Since working all the above out, I tend to use the following guides: 4GB of RAM for 1 User, 8GB for more than 30 or so, however this is MY opinion and not tested Disk as above, mirrored in h/w (yes, mirrored, not raid 5) Dual core for a starter system going to multi-cpu & multi core for a very busy system The Premium node is sized as any other Windows Server 2008 system SQL or Terminal Services or ISA… etc Now while this might sound very sketchy, I’ve never benchmarked any SBS systems and this is my rule of thumb. I’ve seen some 5-person businesses that stressed a 4GB 2-cpu Xeon SBS 2003 system and I’ve seen 40 people lightly load a 1 cpu, 2GB RAM system. Sizing is not a science and you should always put in more than you need as it is easier for something to be sat idle than to be “in need”. Finally, on the sizing, consider your own system. Put in SBS 2008 for yourself and can use yourself as a reference...

So these are really quick snippets. I hit an error where my Gateway monitoring software could not connect to the database. All the errors were along the lines of “Provider cannot be found” and when I looked in the Connection String it stated “Provider=SQLNCLI” which is the SQL Native Client connector software. The fix that worked for me was very simple, to change the “Provider=SQLNCLI …..” to “Provider=SQLNCLI10 …..”. The second issue was nothing that came about from the SQL 2005 to SQL 2008 conversion, but became an issue when I could not see the properties for the database. The error I would see was that “Property Owner is not available for database”. The fix can be found here - http://blog.dampee.be/post/2008/06/22/MSSQL-2005-error-message-quot3bProperty-Owner-is-not-available-for-Database-databaseNamequot3b.aspx . ttfn David Technorati Tags: Microsoft , SQL Server , SQL Server 2008 , Tips

I’ve recently moved the database behind DavidOverton.com (also uksbsguy.com) from a Windows Server 2003 system with SQL 2005 to Windows Server 2008 with SQL 2008. This would be the same process if you were potentially performing a migration from SBS 2003 with SQL 2005 to SBS 2008 Premium with SQL 2008 (or SQL 2005, but the performance issue only happens with SQL 2008). The process was amazingly simple: Stop the database on the Windows 2003 system Copy the datafiles, errorlogs, logs etc to the new system Install SQL 2008 on the new system, creating an instance by the same name Modify the registry to point to my new files (details here ) Start SQL 2008 Obviously I had to do some IIS stuff (create a new site) and install and redirect my logging software (WhosOn), but overall it went very well. Or so I thought until I noticed that my normally nominal CPU utilisation had gone bananas. One of the SQL 2008 new and improved features is the Server Activity History which makes it very easy to pinpoint problems, along with the Activity Monitor. To get the monitor you need to configure the SQL Data Collector (run it twice, once to configure the data warehouse and once to configure the collection process itself). Then right click on the data collection and chose one of the reports. Notice the Activity History above shows 50% cpu utilisation when less than 50 people are hitting the website. This should be a snooze for the system. I ended up disconnection the web site, my monitoring software and everything else and running a trace with every box ticked. This gave me a trace output like this: I got around 200,000 lines like this when every process on the system that could access the system was stopped. Wow! A quick search of the internet talked about corrupt msdb files and then it hit me. I had lifted all the database files from my SQL 2005 system, including the MSDB files to the SQL 2008 system. A quick checked showed that the SQL 2008 files were...

Once I had built my Hyper-V Server I still had a few to resolve. I thought I had better document the solutions I found to my 3 disk related problems from this entry . So the 3 issues covered are: How to get an existing disk to be available inside Hyper-V How to install RAID Management tools How to shrink a non-Dynamic VHD How to get an existing disk to be available inside Hyper-V (called a pass-through disk) Just to give you some background, I was moving a non-VM OS inside a Hyper-V system. I had created the VM, but I could not get it to just “boot” from the old boot disk – the disk was not showing. I’d read that this type of disk was a pass-through (or pass-thru) disk, but I could not find out how to configure it easily. The solution turned out to be very simple. Run DISKPART on the Hyper-V server, identify the disk and mark it offline. It would then appear in the list of disks that could be installed. What is more, if I ran out of disks I could install a SCSI controller and continue to add disks there too. So, the commands for DiskPart: List Disk Select disk n – pick the disk you want, replace n with the disk number from the List Disk output Offline Disk You then need to add the disk inside Hyper-V - How to install RAID Management tools I don’t have pictures for this, but you should get the idea. I put in the CD for the RAID software and I found some EXE and MSI files ( DIR /s /a *.exe *.msi from a command prompt will do that). I ran these (using common sense to work out which ones to try first) until the drivers were installed and also the raid configuration software. I then looked in the C:\Program Files and C:\Program Files (x86) folders for exe’s, cpl and jar files ( DIR /s /a *.exe *.cpl *.jar ). The exe’s can be services or tools to run, the cpl are control panel files and the jar files are Java modules. It turns out that the configuration tools are Java based on my e-sata card. How to shrink a non-Dynamic VHD Finally I had my disks and...

I’ve found myself moving datafiles around or backing up to new locations before enough that I need to change SQL to point to the new locations before it will start for me to do further work. The process to get it up and running is to find the SQL instance in the registry and change 3 values. The magical location is: “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10. <instance> \MSSQLServer\Parameters” Under here you will file 3 arguments. Notice the double backslashes “\\” which is required for each single backslash you want. For example, for my site, I have changed them from the default instance pointers to: "SQLArg0"="-dD:\\databases\\Community Server\\master.mdf" "SQLArg1"="-eD:\\databases\\Community Server\\ERRORLOG" "SQLArg2"="-lD:\\database_logs\\Community Server\\mastlog.ldf" Change these to the location of your datafiles. The “-d” is for the master database datafile, “–e” for the Error Log and finally “-l” for the log for the master database. ttfn David Technorati Tags: SQL 2008 , SQL , Microsoft , Microsoft SQL Server , Tips

This is another question I was recently asked. One particular user noticed that the certificate they saw when accessing their server from the internet did not match that when accessing from the LAN. The certificate looked something like this: This was a little strange as when the system was accessed from the intranet, all things appeared fine. The culprit for them was the SBS 2003 self signed certificate on the same machine. By removing the certificate and then installing the correct new one things got better. To remove the old certificate, start MMC.exe and accept the UAC prompt. Now press Ctrl+M to add a new snap-in and select Certificates and when asked, add for the user account . The do the same again, but select Certificates and Computer Account and hit OK to accept the current computer. Now expand out Personal Certificates and remove any SBS 2003 self signed certificates. To load the new certificates open a browser inside your SBS 2008 network and point to http://companyweb/Lists/Announcements/DispForm.aspx?ID=3 which should give you instructions and the URL. I hope that makes sense. ttfn David Technorati Tags: localhost.localdomain , SBS 2008 , Certificates , Tips

In my last post on installing Hyper-V for my home setup I said I had a number of issues. One was that the Hyper-V Manager kept on showing the error "Cannot connect to the RPC service, make sure your RPC service is running". This turned out to be several issues. To start with my Hyper-V box is in a workgroup, so security is manually configured. Then there is the connection ID security - by hand and finally there is the client setup too. I spent a long time with John Howard's blog which got me the following commands for the Hyper-V server: netsh advfirewall set currentprofile settings remotemanagement enable netsh advfirewall firewall set rule group="Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI)" new enable=yes netsh advfirewall firewall set rule name="Remote Administration (RPC-EPMAP)" new enable=yes profile=domain netsh advfirewall firewall set rule name="Remote Administration (NP-In)" new enable=yes profile=domain netsh advfirewall firewall set rule name="Remote Administration (RPC)" new enable=yes profile=domain netsh advfirewall firewall set rule name="remote desktop (tcp-in)" new enable=Yes profile=domain net localgroup “Distributed COM Users” /add David There was then a few things to do on the client PC where it would not connect. Again the postings at http://blogs.technet.com/jhoward/archive/2008/03/28/part-2-hyper-v-remote-management-you-do-not-have-the-requested-permission-to-complete-this-task-contact-the-administrator-of-the-authorization-policy-for-the-computer-computername.aspx helped me solve the problems. I've put all this here as a reference really, because John has been a busy boy and now has a tool that does this for you called HVRemote . So, learn from my pain and use John's tool. You should be able to add a user and set the permissions very quickly. One thing I will say is that I use OneCare on my OC client and I had to add some rules in the OneCare firewall: - Port 135 for...

[updated with “roll your own” information and how to make a 32-bit version of the exe file] I love it when people challenge me to solve a question and today’s prize goes to Simon (thank-you for the questions Simon) who asked me where Connection Manager was on SBS 2008? You remember Connection Manager right, to auto configure the VPNs… Well, the instructions in SBS 2008 are a little less simple. Rather than downloading a pre-configured tool you now need to roll your own. The reasoning, which is quite sound, is that you can access almost everything via the Remote Web Workplace, but for some things, you want a VPN and the way to get it can be found here - http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc513974.aspx If you want to create a Connection Manager Install for SBS 2008 you need to add the CMAK to the SBS 2008 install. Go to Server Manager and click to add a feature. Install the CMAK by pressing Next. To start the kit, go to the Start Menu, Administrator Tools and then select Connection Manager Administration Kit. Click next until you need to select the target OS. Select to create a new profile and provide the name and filename (8 characters max) Provide the domain or realm name and include the “separator” character – eg “mydomain\” without the quotes. Select no profiles to merge and press Next Embed the VPN Connection name (eg remote.myserver.com as that is what the SSL certificate will say) into the file and then accept the VPN entry Remove the automatically update phonebook options and leave blank Accept the default entries for VPN, Routing tables, IE Proxy, Custom Actions Now accept the default graphics or add your own logo Accept the default information on help files, support information, User EULA screen, additional files Finally accept the answer and build the file: . You can now chose to put the EXE file somewhere your users can access and then they can download it. One problem solved, more to come. IF YOU ARE DEPLOYING TO A 32-BIT WINDOWS SYSTEM, YOU...

[updated 7th Dec 2008 with links to more answers] It has been a while since I posted on the blog - I've been writing a book and installing and upgrading SBS 2008 a few times. I decided that rather than have a bundle of servers under my desk I would buy one large server (well, quad core anyway) and run my operating systems using Hyper-V server. Let's start with the ingredients that you will need: Download Hyper-V Server - http://www.microsoft.com/servers/hyper-v-server/how-to-get.mspx Hyper-V Configuration Guide - Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 Configuration Guide Hyper-V Getting Started Guide - http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=26426203-DE3C-4D74-851E-4E1388A81D5F&displaylang=en Download Management Tool (you probably only need one of the below) Vista 32-bit - Download the Update for Windows Vista (KB952627) package now Vista 64-bit - Download the Update for Windows Vista (KB952627) package now Server 2008 32-bit - Download the Update for Windows Server 2008 (KB950050), 32-bit edition package now Server 2008 64-bit - Download the Update for Windows Server 2008 x64 Edition (KB950050), 64-bit edition package now Server with good dose of RAM - mine has 8GB at the moment Server with multi-core CPU - I bought a new motherboard with an Intel Quad Core 9550 chip - heat is not bad and performance is much better than the P4 I had been using!! External disk array - I chose this one - http://www.scan.co.uk/Product.aspx?WebProductId=898755&Product=EdgeStore+DAS401+4xBay+USB+RAID+1+DAS+Enclosure+via+eSATA - 4 SATA drives that you slot in, 1 eSata cable and a PCI-X eStata card. So, you download the ISO, burn it to a disk, boot, install in about 5 mins and reboot. You then follow the configuration guide which is menu driven, but I did have a few problems. No network card was detected - below The external disks were not detected Once the network card was detected, I could not create any Virtual Machines - network issues with remote management No NAT networking I wanted to move from my existing...

With SBS 2003 R2, some of the Windows Server 2003 R2 features were not included. I asked today where we were with SBS 2008 and the CPU, Memory and feature lists are, so I am told, the same. On the page http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/compare-specs.aspx it talks about the max number of procs, memory etc for Windows Server 2008 Standard. You should use these to represent SBS 2008, however, note SBS 2008 has it’s own minimum requirements. See below for the important points KEY: = Not Available = Available Specification Standard Enterprise X64 Sockets 4 8 X64 RAM 32 GB 2 TB Failover Cluster Nodes (Nodes) 16 Fault Tolerant Memory Sync Cross-File Replication (DFS-R) Network Access Connections (RRAS) 250 Unlimited Network Access Connections (IAS) 50 Unlimited Terminal Services Gateway 250 Unlimited Virtual Image Use Rights 1 4 The features of Windows Server 2008 that are in Standard Edition can be found here - http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2008/en/us/differentiated-features.aspx which should also be a list of what is in SBS 2008. Bear in mind that the product has not released yet, but it appears to be going this direction. ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBS 2008 , Small Business Server 2008 , Small Business , Limitations , Windows Server 2008 , SBSC , Microsoft

The Console setup process ( Once SBS is set up, how to do the basic configuration through the management console ) sets up SBS 2008 for use. OneCare for Servers provide anti-malware capabilities and is an important part of the system integrity. SBS 2008 comes with a trial of OneCare and so far I’ve found it very effective. Setup today requires two updates that it downloads and applies itself: Notice that the initial configuration immediately informs you that you need to update Start the process, tell OneCare which country you are in and and accept the EULA. The download starts, updates and finishes If you have an activation key, or wish to purchase one you carry on through the process, switching to a web site to complete the process Note, DO NOT try to activate your trial in the Technical Preview unless you have already been provided with a key If you have been going through the Console in order then this is it baring the enabling of Office Live. Finally, all the SBS 2008 entries can be found at http://davidoverton.com/blogs/doverton/archive/tags/SBS+2008/default.aspx ttfn David Technorati Tags: Microsoft , SBS 2008 , SBS , Tips , SBSC , Small Business , Small Business Server 2008 , Community , Partner , Console , One Care , Security , Anti-Virus , Anti-spam

The Console setup process ( Once SBS is set up, how to do the basic configuration through the management console ) sets up SBS 2008 for use. One of the options is for a spit personality Office Live for Small Businesses solution. Why split, well the e-mail items are held on the SBS 2008 Exchange server, as will the report site services, but the public web site and WSS external collaboration sites will be hosted on the Office Live servers. This means that things like DNS need a bit more management, but that can all be handled for you. This is how I configured mine: Start the process from the console and say I want a new site. Since SBS 2008 already knows the external address of the SBS box, it offers to enable the DNS to be redirected to Office Live for the www.mydomain.com address We then get into the Office Live sign-up process via the web. One word of note here, I had installed the box as a US system, not a UK system, so it took me to the US site. If you change the language settings in the browser (Tools/Options/Language) to EN-GB, then you will get the UK site. You can see form the pictures below that the sign-up process is simple and secure. Once you have finished on the web site it all you need to do is to complete the sign in details below. Now for me, that was not the end of the story – the verification e-mail was simply not arriving, even though I requested it to be resent several times. Eventually I discovered it was the spam filter settings rejecting the mail. I have reported this as a bug into Microsoft, but in the mean time, to overcome the situation, have a look at How to change spam settings on Exchange 2007 / SBS 2008 to enable some / all / more spam to be delivered to an account for analysis to see how I resolved it. One again that is it for this stage. Finally, all the SBS 2008 entries can be found at http://davidoverton.com/blogs/doverton/archive/tags/SBS+2008/default.aspx ttfn David Technorati Tags: Microsoft , SBS 2008 , SBS , Tips , SBSC , Small Business , Small Business Server 2008 , Community...

I saw over on Nicholas's blog post - Nicholas King : EBS/SBS Upgrades & Migrations that he has started to answer some of the questions around system upgrades and migrations. Below are some snippets of key information he has shared. Read his blog post for more. However, key thoughts for me are: 1) no in box SBS 2003 -> SBS 2008 upgrades. This is a box to box migration process. If you have SA or FPP copies of SBS 2003 then you can potentially do a P2V and then migrate from the virtual image. If not, I would consider running a VM of Windows Server to enable you to move the domain at least 2) Moving from one box to another (eg hardware upgrades in the future) are now supported. This can potentially be used to go from a RC0 build to RTM, but it is not tested or supported, however that does not mean it will not work!! 3) There is a GREAT document linked below that describes a migration in glorious detail EBS/SBS Upgrades & Migrations Recently I had several people ask me whether it is possible or supported to do a build to build migration or upgrade from the RC0 of either SBS or EBS to RC1 or even RTM. Migration and Upgrade are two words often used interchangeably. Technically as you know they have some very specific meanings. Upgrade means to take the existing code base and then lay binaries over the top of, or underneath of (believe it or not this is how Vista does it!) the existing installation effectively taking the old installation and making it the new, whilst maintaining the existing configuration. Migration means setting up a completely new environment and then transferring the settings, user data and environment functionality to the new setup. Upgrades are not something we design, test or develop for either SBS or EBS . For RTM our research points to the fact that most installations have new hardware on site, and added to that the SBS architecture change from 32-bit to 64-bit prohibits us from doing in place upgrades. EBS is V1 so no upgrade requirement there. This leaves migrations, I need to be...

[updated due to Vlad's link] - to see the rest of the articles on SBS 2008 click here SBS 2008, like SBS 2003, comes with a server backup tool. Unlike SBS 2003, this one supports USB drives as a great removable solution,but does not support tapes. Tapes are not really required unless you need good archival solutions as keeping a rotation of tapes in a warehouse for 10 years would be more cost effective than keeping a stack of USB drives. The Console setup process ( Once SBS is set up, how to do the basic configuration through the management console ) sets up SBS 2008 for use. As you work down the list in the console you will come to backup. The process to enable this is all quite simple: The 1st time I ran the tool I did not have a removable drive attached to the system, so it failed to start the process properly I then attached my 500GB external drive and started again. I picked my device and gave it a name: Chose what got backed up (note that everything from the system drive gets backed up!), when and then confirm everything Since the backup drives are formatted, you are given one last chance, then off it goes That completed the process before you move down the list. Finally, all the SBS 2008 entries can be found at http://davidoverton.com/blogs/doverton/archive/tags/SBS+2008/default.aspx ttfn David Technorati Tags: Microsoft , SBS 2008 , SBS , Tips , SBSC , Small Business , Small Business Server 2008 , Community , Partner , Console , Backup and Restore , Backup

The Console setup process ( Once SBS is set up, how to do the basic configuration through the management console ) sets up SBS 2008 for use. Once the internet facing services are set up you might have to enable “Smart Hosts” – which basically means that your e-mail is sent out via your ISPs mail server. This is a simple process which I have documented below: Since I am using NTL / Virgin media as my provider, I had to send via mail.ntlworld.com. Do this and and hit next and then the system will send mail this way. That is it. One again that is it for this stage. Finally, all the SBS 2008 entries can be found at http://davidoverton.com/blogs/doverton/archive/tags/SBS+2008/default.aspx ttfn David Technorati Tags: Microsoft , SBS 2008 , SBS , Tips , SBSC , Small Business , Small Business Server 2008 , Community , Partner , Console , E-mail , Smart hosts

The Console setup process ( Once SBS is set up, how to do the basic configuration through the management console ) sets up SBS 2008 for use. Once the internet settings are completed, the next big steps is setting up the internet facing services. This is the process I followed: 1) The 1st time I had to create a domain for my server 2) I chose to do this using the provided tools (this then provides DNS management of www.domain.com going to Office Live, but remote.domain.com going to this server and the MX record pointing to the SBS box too. 3) Once you have chosen your provider you go off to a web page to purchase the domain 4) Then you enter your login details It you already have a domain then the process looks like this: 1) Enter your domain and provider details 2) confirm the details and enter them as per step 4 above Continue the process from above as the tool configures the system. Note that if your router does not accept UPnP (or it is turned off, as per mine), then you will get the warning and errors shown in the middle picture below One again that is it for this stage. Finally, all the SBS 2008 entries can be found at http://davidoverton.com/blogs/doverton/archive/tags/SBS+2008/default.aspx ttfn David Technorati Tags: Microsoft , SBS 2008 , SBS , Tips , SBSC , Small Business , Small Business Server 2008 , Community , Partner , Console , Set up internet services

The Console setup process ( Once SBS is set up, how to do the basic configuration through the management console ) sets up SBS 2008 for use. One of the first steps is setting up the internet connection. This is the process I followed: The routines automatically detected the router IP address – I had not set it anywhere Then finished off The process of enabling others to communicate with SBS and setting up firewall etc can be found here . Finally, all the SBS 2008 entries can be found at http://davidoverton.com/blogs/doverton/archive/tags/SBS+2008/default.aspx ttfn David Technorati Tags: Microsoft , SBS 2008 , SBS , Tips , SBSC , Small Business , Small Business Server 2008 , Community , Partner , Console , Connect to the internet

The Console setup process ( Once SBS is set up, how to do the basic configuration through the management console ) has a few items that are just one or two screens, so rather than dedicating a separate post to them, here they are by themselves: There are then the following steps that took me about 20-mins to complete: 1. Read the document on how to use the SBS console 3. Accept the Customer feedback option 5. Adding a trust certificate (I don’t have one, but I’ll show you the screen shot) ttfn David Technorati Tags: Microsoft , SBS 2008 , SBS , Tips , SBSC , Small Business , Small Business Server 2008 , Community , Partner , Console

[updated 5th June 2008 - as last 2 sections now online] I saw Vijays’s post on SBS 2008 RC0 Installation Walkthrough (which points to this post – walkthrough ) and while this article has much good information, I had grabbed the install process in screen shot again :-) There were a few interesting points that I thought I would share too: Once the install has finished, you need to do the post install configuration: If you have done it right you will see a screen like this: If you have had a number of problems in the install then you will see something like this: and then . I got this by hitting the power button on the keyboard while the setup was running and while I said “no” to the “do you want to shutdown” prompt, it appears it killed the setup process in the background. If you get this sort of setup, I spent a few hours trying to resolve and while I did re-install exchange and then load ForeFront, it was easier to just re-format and start again. OK, so if it is working the console should look like this: There are then the following steps that took me about 20-mins to complete: Read the document on how to use the SBS console Connect to the Internet Accept the Customer feedback option Set up the Internet address Configure a Smart Host for Internet e-mail Adding a trust certificate (I don’t have one, but I’ll show you the screen shot) Configure server backup Configure Windows Live OneCare for Server Set up Microsoft Office Live Small Business Web sites Finally, all the SBS 2008 entries can be found at http://davidoverton.com/blogs/doverton/archive/tags/SBS+2008/default.aspx ttfn David Technorati Tags: Microsoft , SBS 2008 , SBS , Tips , SBSC , Small Business , Small Business Server 2008 , Community , Partner

One of the settings I wanted to change in SBS 2008 was the spam filter settings – some mails that I was receiving were being deleted without any option for me to review them. Since I had to go and read the manual on this, I thought I would share the answer on this. Open the Exchange Management Console Select the Organization Configuration and then Hub Transport Select the Anti-spam and look at Content Filtering By default the “Reject messages” SCL rating is set to 7. I change this to 8, enable "Quarantining messages” for messages above a level of 6 Finally, you need to enter the e-mail of a mailbox to receive the quarantined e-mail You can see how this impacted the e-mails themselves in the daily report – notice the number of mails still rejected / quarantined: That is it. See all the other SBS 2008 items at http://davidoverton.com/blogs/doverton/archive/tags/SBS+2008/default.aspx ttfn David Technorati Tags: Microsoft , SBS , SBS 2008 , Small Business Server 2008 , Exchange 2007 , Tips , Spam , Content Filtering

There is a great web site out from Microsoft called OfficeLabs and one of the 1st great things published is: Project: Search Commands ﻿ Search Commands helps you find commands, options, wizards, and galleries in Microsoft Office 2007 Word, Excel and PowerPoint. Just type what you’re looking for in your own words and click the command you need. Search Commands also includes Guided Help, which acts as a tour guide for specific tasks. Crave more info? FAQ - get answers to frequently asked questions Blog - read the latest news from the team Discussions - connect with other users ﻿ Click here to download. Requirements: 32 bit Windows XP or Windows Vista. Office 2007. Limitations: English only. Works with Word, Excel and PowerPoint only. Give it a try!! ttfn David Technorati Tags: Microsoft , Word 2007 , Excel 2007 , Office 2007 , Search , Ribbon , find , If you only read one post today

I have a Windows Home Server at home and I decided I wanted it to be responsible for handing out DHCP and DNS addresses in the house. All very good, but when I set up the services none of it worked because of the built in Windows Firewall. While I could have just turned off the Firewall I decided to learn how to put the holes into the firewall to make it work with the firewall, thus maintaining better security. A quick search of the web showed me many settings, but it did not seem to cover the whole picture – then I came across the MS site Windows Firewall Settings which has things broken down into these four handy sections that shall for ever more be my guides to ports and firewalls in the Microsoft world. What is more, as you will see later, the tips in here as to how to get things working, getting over common hurdles is quite stunning too: Windows Firewall Settings: Optional Components Windows Firewall Settings: Remote Administration Tools Windows Firewall Settings: Server Roles Windows Firewall Settings: Services The two key entries for me are below – DHCP and DNS. Note that the DHCP entry has a wonderful tip saying that you will need to ensure 0.0.0.0 is included in the scope of the acceptable ports – i.e. you can not just set the scope to local network only. This was my 1st mistake Windows Firewall: DHCP server Add UDP ports 67 and 2535 to the Windows Firewall exceptions list on the DHCP server. Important: When you create a Windows Firewall exception for the DHCP protocol on a DHCP server, you must set the scope for the exception to Any computer including those on the Internet . If you leave it set to My network (subnet) only , all inbound DHCP Discover packets from client computers are dropped because the IP address of the packet is 0.0.0.0 , which is not recognized by the computer as being part of the local subnet. This causes the DHCP process to fail and clients do not receive IP addresses. Windows Firewall: DHCP server On the DNS entry the thing which grabbed me was the ports other than 53 that were needed...

Hi, My site is hosted by me on the end of a dynamically changing IP address (well, it could change, but has not for about 18 months). To get round this I have bought a number of domains, but they are all changed and updated by a magical piece of software that sits on my server that updates the DNS records for my domains whenever they change. This would be great, except for the fact that having had network/ISP trouble I now have Dynamic DNS trouble: When it works it is great, when not, it is very poor. In this case my provider is http://www.deerfield.com and I use their DNS2Go service – I’ve not found anyone better, so if you have a recommendation, let me know. One nice feature for these guys is that the 1 tool updates 5 domains ( http://davidoverton.com , http://uksbsguy.com , http://ukvistaguy.com are the main 3). If this all sounds a bit wondrous, here, in pictures are the steps: My basic architecture consists of my server, the Dynamic DNS provider, my Domain Registrar, you and the software provided: To set things up I had to register my domain and point the nameservers to the Dynamic DNS service providers servers: I then had to load the Dynamic DNS service providers software onto my server. Some routers also have this built into them, but then the service providers are limited: Then, in terms of how it works – my IP address will be changed by my ISP – at this point no-one will be able to connect to my server: The software will then update the Dynamic DNS provider with the new IP address – this is typically almost immediate which for me is just fine: Then when you come along with your browser, you can still get the correct IP address to find my site: Job done – this can be applied to almost any server!! ttfn David Technorati Tags: Personal , Dynamic DNS , ISP , Internet , UKSBSGUY.com , David Overton

One little feature that others might have missed with the new release of Office Live Workspace is the two nifty buttons for Office to enable direct access from the Office Live Workspace Update for Windows Vista The Office Live Workspace Update installs three Windows Vista updates (KB945435, KB945145, KB933860) and one Office 2007 update to ensure optimal performance on Windows Vista when using Microsoft Office Word, Excel, and PowerPoint with Office Live Workspace. The update improves the performance of opening and saving Workspace documents from these Office programs. In some cases, the update also resolves problems with "Open from Office Live" and "Save to Office Live" functions of the Office Live Add-in . This update is only needed for computers running Windows Vista. Download details: Office Live Workspace Update for Windows Vista ttfn David Technorati Tags: Live , Office Live Small Business , Office Live , Office Live Workspace , Vista , Windows Vista , Save to , Open From

Each month the TRM blog product this great summary of the Microsoft world in various product areas. The blog can be found here http://blogs.technet.com/trm/ News Help your customers securely deploy Windows Server 2008 with the Windows Server 2008 Security Guide! http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=92550 Every day, adversaries attempt to invade your customers’ networks and access their servers—to bring them down, infect them with viruses, or steal information about customers or employees. Your customers are looking to Microsoft and Windows Server® 2008 to help them address these threats. To assist customers in taking full advantage of the rich security features in Windows Server 2008, Microsoft has developed the Windows Server 2008 Security Guide. The Windows Server 2008 Security Guide provides IT professionals with best practices, predefined security templates, and an automated deployment tool to help strengthen the security of servers running Windows Server 2008. Supporting Your Family, Friends, and Neighbours http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8287993 By Steve Riley, Senior Security Strategist, Trustworthy Computing Have you become a support professional outside of the workplace? Read this article and learn how to discuss security with your family, friends, and neighbours to better help them stay safe and secure online. More Security and Control for Mobile Devices http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8287995 Learn how to add, manage, secure, and update Windows Mobile devices like you do Windows-based laptops and PCs. Microsoft System Center Mobile Device Manager 2008 provides robust security features and a comprehensive device management solution that helps safeguard your corporate data, reduce the cost and complexity of mobile deployments, and centralize and simplify Windows Mobile device management. Island Hopping: The Infectious Allure of Vendor Swag http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8287996 The technique of island hopping -- penetrating a network through a weak link and then hopping around systems within that network...

Yesterday we announce SBS 2008 and now there is the updated best practice analyzer for SBS 2003 - The Official SBS Blog : Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer Updated - the updates are below Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer Updated The SBS 2003 Best Practices Analyzer configuration file has been updated with new rules. There are approximately 100 new rules and many pre-existing rules have been improved based on your feedback. To check to see if you have the latest configuration file go to Start>All Programs>SBS Best Practices Analyzer , then click on the About the Best Practices Analyzer link. The updated configuration file version is 2.1.18.0. If you still have the old version (2.1.4.0), click on the Updates and Customer Feedback link. Then click on the Check for Updates Now link. Some of the new rules include: Expanded checks for Blue Shield issues relating to WSUS Checks for the .Net Framework version for Companyweb Resolved some issues with the WSS and DST update checks Checks the SQL Default instance for service pack level/version Information messages regarding Forest/Domain Functional Levels and Exchange Functional level Checks that KB 911829 is installed for OWA/Vista compatibility DNS Forward lookup zones are set to allow secure dynamic updates Verifies IIS keep-alives are enabled Checks ISA 2004 service pack level, and if ISA 2000 is installed recommend that it be upgraded to ISA 2004 using SBS 2003 SP1 media Verifies that no restrictions have been placed on the IWAM or IUSR accounts for workstation or logon hours Checks to see if the LANNIC guid appears to be the internal interface Checks for MSFW instance for service pack level/version Warning if NIC drivers are over a year old Verifies that the reverse lookup zone is configured for allowing secure dynamic updates Verifies that WSUS is integrated with SBS R2 Informational message to show the AD schema version level Attempts to ping other domain controllers to test connectivity to them Verifies that SSL is not required...

This informaiton can be found (and more) at the TRM blog can be found here http://blogs.technet.com/trm/ . News SMS&MOM http://blogs.technet.com/smsandmom/default.aspx Nexus SC: The System Center Team Blog http://blogs.technet.com/systemcenter/ Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2007 International Client Packs released Two ICP packs for ConfigMgr have been released. ICP1 contains the following languages: English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish ICP2 contains all languages from ICP1 plus the following: Chinese (Simplified),Chinese (Traditional), Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Swedish, Turkish Webcasts TechNet Webcast: Client Monitoring with System Center Operations Manager 2007 (Level 200) - Friday, February 29, 11:30 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) In this session, we show you some of the new features that we have built into Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007. By the end of this session, you will have a good understanding of what we are doing with client monitoring. We start off with a look at some customer challenges around client monitoring and then explain the Microsoft short-term and long-term vision for client monitoring. Next, we discuss the approach that we have taken to make client monitoring as flexible as possible with features like Agentless Exception Monitoring, Aggregated Client Monitoring, and Critical Client Monitoring. We wrap up the webcast with a look at the management packs we are delivering specifically for client monitoring. TechNet Webcast: Client Monitoring with System Center Operations Manager 2007 (Level 200) Downloads SMS and Configuration Manager SC Configuration Manager 2007 ICPs International Client Packs (ICPs) contain international-language clients to use with System Center Configuration Manager (SC Config Mgr) 2007. ICP downloads contain only the Config Mgr client files, not the English-language SC Config Mgr 2007, which is required. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads...

This comment was added to my blog the other day, but I think it deserves posting as a blog entry in it's own right: Hi Dave, We've worked up a 70-282 set of resources on a live.space. The effort is thorough and a good starting point for anyone looking at the 70-282 exam. Two particularly useful URL's are: http://wigital.spaces.live.com AND 70-282examteam.events.live.com You are welcome to contribute and/or comment if you have time. Warm Regards, Mark ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBSC , 70-282 , Exam , SBS Server , Community

My boss had some problems on his PC after installing some tools onto it and upon further diagnosis it appeared to be that the .Net Framework had been corrupted. We did all the usual things of looking in "Add/Remove Programs" etc, adding service packs etc all to no avail. I then came across this blog entry and a fix started to come to light How to repair the .NET Framework 2.0 and 3.0 on Windows Vista Since the Windows Vista public launch in January 2007, I have been receiving questions about how to repair the .NET Framework 2.0 and 3.0 to try to resolve various bugs. As I previously described here , the 2.0 and 3.0 versions are installed as OS components on Windows Vista and do not appear in the Programs and Features (formerly known as Add/Remove Programs) control panel. Many of the customers I have heard from have tried to use the .NET Framework cleanup tool , but it does not list the .NET Framework 2.0 as a valid removal option when it is run on Windows Vista. This is by design - the cleanup tool does not offer the option to remove any version of the .NET Framework that is an OS component on the OS it is being run on. Aaron Stebner's WebLog : How to repair the .NET Framework 2.0 and 3.0 on Windows Vista The important things seem to be: Don't use the clean up tool Try the command " sfc /scannow " from an elevated command prompt Repair the (V2) framework with the command " %windir%\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\ngen.exe update " again from an elevated command prompt The 1st item stops corruption, then 2nd checks the OS's binary (core internal files) are correct and matching their signatures and the final one re-creates all the "native" files from the IL code. ttfn David Technorati Tags: .Net Framework , Support , Windows Vista , Vista

If you don't know about the Heroes Happen Here :: Home campaign then you are very much behind the times. The Launch events for SQL Server 2008 (errrm), Visual Studio 2008 and Windows Server 2008 are fast approaching and so is your customers ability to buy and use them - do you understand what, why and when? If not, go to the website and see how your customers can benefit and why you should learn more about the product and what you can do to improve your business with these products. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Heroes happen here , Heroes happen {here} , Heroes , Windows Server 2008 , SQL Server 2008 , Visual Studio 2008

I wanted to load Navizon onto my phone to give me GPS type capability even when I don't have a GPS using wireless access point and Mobile Phone Cell triangulation (and it pays me $$'s when I feed it information), however there was an issue with the locked down nature of my E650. Upon searching the web, this page was the one that had the real answer - note you need to sign up to the site to be able to download the magic program: xda-developers - View Single Post - Application unlock for HTC Monet (Virgin Lobster 700tv) Application unlock for HTC Monet (Virgin Lobster 700tv) Been trying everything on the Internet and managed to make some headway with Monet (Virgin Lobster 700tv) unlock (this might work for Meteor/C700 as well). 1. Firstly you need to get rid of the 'registry security policy' lock. Download cert install sp.zip: [see attachment] a. copy "SP_AllowCertificateInstall.cab" to the root of Monet memory or card b. Use file explorer on monet to navigate to file. Click to run. Should run ok. c. Unzip "SDA_ApplicationUnlock.zip" on PC and run "SDA_ApplicationUnlock.exe" whilst Monet is connected via activesync <snipped> ttfn David Technorati Tags: Windows Mobile , Developer , Applications , Unlocking

LINQ looks like another amazingly simple move for app developers (I've written a few DB apps myself over the years). While Microsoft provides support for Objects, SQL and XML, others provide for other platforms such as Oracle, MySQL and PostgreSQL ( http://code2code.net/DB_Linq/ ). The reason why it is so nice is because the gap between the process of writing SQL queries and then programming them into your code is considerably removed. For example, a query might now look like: var q = from p in db.Products where p.ProductName == "Pen" select p.ProductID; I think that looks very much like a SQL query, which is really good for developers and database peeps alike, especially since the underlying execution is very efficient. To make understanding all this easier there has been a number of articles written including... Beginning LINQ development, Part 1 Brian Eastwood, Site Editor The Language Integrated Query, or LINQ, is one of the most important of the new features afoot in VB 9.0 and C# 3.0.Developers can use LINQ to query to data sources like ADO.NET, SQL and XML. The idea, of course, is that data queries are now an integrated part of Visual Basic and C# and an immeasurable improvement over data integration in the days of preprocessors. LINQ first emerged at PDC 2005, and though it is intended for the next version of Visual Studio, code-named "Orcas," LINQ is available for use with Visual Studio 2005 . A good starting point for learning more about LINQ is Hooked on LINQ , a wiki for anyone interested in dipping his toe in the water. Among the site's resources are "five-minute overviews" of using LINQ with objects, SQL and XML. For more on LINQ-to-SQL queries, which were previously called DLINQ queries, check out the Scott Guthrie post Understanding LINQ to SQL Query Translations . (Guthrie is the head of ASP.NET development at Microsoft.) Here you can find hints for working with stored procedures, Where clauses and mathematics functions. Beginning LINQ development, Part 1 and...

Many people out there love OneNote. Lots of people have it and don't use it - shame on you - try it, but also try the tutorial so you stand a better chance of "getting" this note taking tool. Anyway, I saw a mail by John listing some of the items posted about by him. It is an impressive list. Here's the list, broken down by area: Migrating to OneNote: 1. Journal import https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2007/12/21/journal-to-onenote-importer.aspx 2. Text File Importer: https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2007/04/30/customer-feedback-results-in-another-powertoy.aspx 3. Export Outlook Notes to OneNote: https://blogs.msdn.com/descapa/archive/2007/02/14/export-your-outlook-notes-to-onenote.aspx 4. Import books from Project Gutenberg: https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2007/05/31/a-tool-to-import-texts-from-project-gutenberg.aspx Outlook Addins: 5. Outlook Email to OneNote: https://blogs.msdn.com/descapa/archive/2007/02/06/powertoy-outlook-to-onenote-addin.aspx 6. Task Request https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2007/12/11/task-requests-from-onenote-meeting-notes-powertoy.aspx 7. Use OneNote instead of Outlook Notes: https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2007/04/16/4-16.aspx Work with data on page: 8. Audio Fine Tuner https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2007/12/12/media-fine-tuner-powertoy-for-onenote.aspx 9. Table Sums https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2007/12/10/table-sum-powertoy-for-onenote.aspx 10. Image Rotator https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2007/12/14/image-rotator-powertoy-for-onenote-2007.aspx 11. Printout Manager: https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2007/09/19/an-addin-to-manage-printouts-to-onenote.aspx 12. Word Count: https://blogs.msdn.com/descapa/archive/2007/02/14/onenote-2007-word-count.aspx Working with Pages: 13. Make a Page a Subpage: https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2007/09/07/make-subpage-addin-updated-and-a-lenovo-update.aspx 14. Merge Pages: https://blogs.msdn.com/johnguin/archive/2007/08/16/merge-pages-in-onenote-powertoy.aspx OneNote...

I got this e-mail the other day: Hi David,From your posting "How to install Microsoft Search Server 2008 Express - including how to install on Windows Home Server" it seems that you had some similar problems that I am experiencing regarding running wss3 and ssx on the same server. In my case it effectively broke the "search this site" option and I'm trying to find a solution to this do you by any chance now what is my problem? I keep getting the error message: The search request was unable to connect to the Search Service . Regards Peter After a bit of research the answer can be found at http://wss.asaris.de/sites/walsh/Lists/WSSv3%20FAQ/DispForm.aspx?ID=1256 . While I have not used this, the feedback from Peter was excellent "Thanks a bundle, This was the solution to my problem.", so I feel confident sharing it. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Search Server Express Edition 2008 , Search Server , Windows SharePoint Server , WSS , SSX

I need to take my hat off to the PSS guys in India. I "met" Girish on the Microsoft internal aliases and then delivering a Technet chat. I've since seen him post some great blog posts, but also answer key questions in various SBS forums. Alex recently asked the question: They (well I) think it is time to virtualise the three SBS servers that support their three micro businesses (plus a terminal server each). Lower energy costs (down to 1 server from 3), quieter in their office. Girish has recently blogged something that would help implement this: Content Released: Deploying Terminal Services in a Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Environment Deploying Terminal Services in a Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 Environment This document updates and replaces both "Deploying Windows Server 2003 Terminal Server to Host User Desktops in a Windows Small Business Server Environment" and "Installing Virtual Server 2005 R2 on Windows Small Business Server 2003 with SP1." Kudos to SBS UA team and the SBS Support Staff. Now, he also commented in the SBS forum with some great advice: There are a huge number of caveats that make this a very complex and usually disappointing option. Make sure your understand these KBs: 909840 Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2003 do not support Virtual PC and Virtual Server for production environments http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;909840 840319 A list of supported host operating systems that you can use to run Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;840319 897613 Microsoft Virtual Server support policy http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;897613 320220 Support policy for Exchange Server 2003 running on hardware virtualization software http://vkbexternal/VKBWebService/ViewContent.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;320220 897614 Windows Server System software not supported within a Microsoft Virtual Server environment http://vkbexternal/VKBWebService/ViewContent...

I love content produced in Silverlight, in fact, not enough is happening with this technology in my personal opinion inside Microsoft (or at least, inside and coming out), however I have found a few resources worth mentioning. 1st up we have information on Silverlight 1.0 development by Dan Wahlin - My Latest Silverlight Articles - Dan Wahlin's WebLog : My Latest Silverlight Articles Over the past few months I've been writing articles for the .NET Insight insight newsletter covering various ASP.NET AJAX concepts. You can read those article here . I've wrapped up that series and have started writing about Silverlight 1.0. Each week a new article will be published and I'll update them here so check back. The articles are designed to be focused and concise and get straight to the topic without a lot of fluff. Getting Started with Silverlight Using Microsoft's Silverlight Control in a Web Site Understanding Silverlight's createObject and createObjectEx Methods Silverlight XAML Primer 1: Exploring Canvases Silverlight XAML Primer 2: Rectangles, Ellipses, Lines and Text Silverlight XAML Primer 3: Working with Image Brushes and then we have the news that people just can't wait for the next version (was Silverlight 1.1 alpha) Users Itching for Silverlight 2.0 By Darryl K. Taft Microsoft continues to evolve its Silverlight cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in for generating rich Internet applications and Web content, and users are anxiously awaiting the features due in the next release. The Redmond, Wash., software giant released Silverlight 1.0 in September, along with a 1.1 update. Then on Nov. 29, Microsoft announced that it was renaming Silverlight 1.1 to Silverlight 2.0. And in addition to adding support for .NET, Microsoft is taking the next version of Silverlight further by adding a comprehensive control model, powerful skinning/theming, data binding and over 20 controls in the box, Microsoft said. "Silverlight 2.0 is the version we're excited about," said Scott Stanfield,...

I saw this and thought I would share it for those who want to customise the screen savers that ship with Vista. Windows Vista Aurora Screensaver Hidden Settings For those of you who are using Windows Vista, you may have noticed that the screen savers that are included do not contain any settings. Actually, they do , but Microsoft didn't include options dialogs for them. Long Zheng posted the settings for the Bubbles, Mystify, and Ribbons screensavers back in September before Windows Vista officially shipped. But he didn't post the settings for Aurora . Through a little bit of digging and guess work, I've uncovered one registry key that actually works for customizing the Aurora screensaver. Let's get started, shall we? Kristan Kenney: Confessions of a Windows Enthusiast : Windows Vista Aurora Screensaver Hidden Settings ttfn David Technorati Tags: Vista Tweaks , Windows Vista , Vista

The TRM blog can be found here December 2007 - Technical Rollup Mail - Platforms Microsoft outlines pricing, packaging and licensing for Windows Server 2008, Including the new Microsoft Hyper-V Server product. http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/nov07/11-12HyperVPR.mspx Microsoft announces new virtualization offerings, Windows Server 2008 details, System Center product availability at TechEd IT Forum 2007 http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/nov07/11-12ITForumPR.mspx Solution Accelerators Take the guesswork out of your deployments. Use these tested and proven automation tools and guides to assess your network and confidently roll out new services employing architectures with baked-in security and manageability. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/solutionaccelerators/default.aspx The TechNet Team have launched Technet Edge, a new community site where IT professionals can go to get the inside scoop on the latest and greatest technologies. http://edge.technet.com/Default.aspx Introducing Microsoft Search Server 2008 http://www.microsoft.com/enterprisesearch/serverproducts/searchserver/default.aspx A successful enterprise search solution gives users efficient access to unstructured data, structured information, and expertise. It helps keep sensitive information secure; is easy to set up, administer, and manage; leaves room for scalability; and allows you to customize and extend your search experience. Search doesn’t have to be complicated. You can deliver it to your organization quickly and easily with Microsoft Search Server 2008 A successful enterprise search solution gives users efficient access to unstructured data, structured information, and expertise. It helps keep sensitive information secure; is easy to set up, administer, and manage; leaves room for scalability; and allows you to customize and extend your search experience. Search doesn’t have to be complicated. You can deliver it to your organization quickly and easily with Microsoft Search Server 2008 Download the Express Edition Free: http...

From the TRM Blog at November 2007 - Technical Rollup Mail - SQL SQL 2005 Webcasts and Virtual Labs SQL Server 2005 is data management and analysis software that delivers enhanced security, availability, and scalability to mission-critical data applications—while making them easier to develop, deploy, and manage. Choose from a wide range of live and on-demand webcasts. Or take part in a virtual lab, which allows you to cut your teeth on the new platform by experimenting with its different capabilities. SQL Server 2005 Webcasts TechNet Webcast: Prepare Yourself for Windows Server 2008 (Part 1 of 8): Product Workload Scenarios (Level 300) – Monday, December 03, 2007 9:30 AM Pacific Time (US & Canada) In this first session of our series, we discuss how Windows Server 2008 addresses key deployment scenarios for customers. We start with an overview of the key product workload scenarios for Windows Server 2008. We cover as many as 10 different scenarios, and we discuss how each scenario can be categorized into one of three different design pillars. While examining the scenarios, we take a closer look at the specific technologies used within the scenario, describe how they are used, and explain why they are needed. We show which technologies comprise each scenario and the value propositions they deliver. Finally, we see how the scenario adds value to Windows Server 2008 and, in some cases, we provide real-world examples of usages for the scenario. TechNet Webcast: Prepare Yourself for Windows Server 2008 (Part 1 of 8): Product Workload Scenarios (Level 300) MSDN Webcast: New T-SQL Programmability Features in SQL Server 2008 (Level 300) – Tuesday, December 04, 2007 1:00 PM Pacific Time (US & Canada) Join this webcast on new T-SQL programmability features in Microsoft SQL Server 2008, an extension from last year's presentation on top Microsoft SQL Server 2005 T-SQL features. We cover exciting new features such as: New data types (i.e. date/time, filestream, HierarchyID, large UDT, sparse columns) Dependency management...

From the TRM Blog at November 2007 - Technical Rollup Mail - SQL Microsoft Synchronization Services for ADO.NET v2.0 CTP1 Microsoft Synchronization Services for ADO.NET provides the ability to synchronize data from disparate sources over two-tier, N-tier, and service-based architectures. Rather than simply replicating a database and its schema, the Synchronization Services application programming interface (API) provides a set of components to synchronize data between data services and a local store. Applications are increasingly used on mobile clients, such as laptops and devices, that do not have a consistent or reliable network connection to a central server. It is crucial for these applications to work against a local copy of data on the client. Equally important is the need to synchronize the local copy of the data with a central server when a network connection is available. The Synchronization Services API, which is modeled after the ADO.NET data access APIs, gives you an intuitive way to synchronize data. It makes building applications for occasionally connected environments a logical extension of building applications where you can count on a consistent network connection. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=147c41a9-69f0-496e-b095-dbc5cffd6285&DisplayLang=en Visual Studio 2005 Support for SQL Server 2008, Community Technology Preview This CTP resolves a problem that when you try to open a database connection to SQL Server 2008 by using Visual Studio 2005 design tools, you may receive the following error message: “This server version is not supported. Only servers up to Microsoft SQL Server 2005 are supported.” This CTP addresses this issue, and enables the following Visual Studio functionality for SQL Server 2008 CTP5 : Server Explorer successfully connects to SQL Server 2008, and database objects such as stored procedures and table data can be viewed and edited. Note that table schemas still cannot be viewed or edited in this release. SQL CLR projects that target SQL Server 2008...

From the blog entry I published on How to get rid of the installer / configuration dialog when running Office 2007 and Office 2003 on the same system - for Vista and other versions of Windows I still get people e-mailing me with problems. While I have not been able to solve them all, but here are some solutions that I have seen success with: Problem: POP3 e-mail starts sending then gets stuck/hangs/stops: I have seen your blog at uksbsguy.com and it seems you are my only hope. Brand new laptop, small sized PST file, Vista Home Premium, Outlook 2007 Ultimate. I set up an account in Outlook 2007 to my bog standard POP3 account that has always worked. It starts to download my first email and slowly reaches 3 or 4KB then just hangs . Surprisingly I can sent (SMTP) absolutely fine. If I use another internet connection (dial up modem) instead of LAN then I can receive POP3 as well. But the same LAN connection works for my old laptop (XP/Outlook 2003) all settings same. I also tried the netsh command and the result is as follows: C:\Users\sparekh>netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled Set global command failed on IPv4 The requested operation requires elevation. Sachin The solution: elevated netsh command You need to run an “elevated” command prompt. Find "command prompt" on your start menu, right click it and select “run as administrator” – then try the command "netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled" (without the double quotes) Response: David, Magic! It worked! I elevated command prompt and netsh worked. My IT team spent so many hours and days for this. Thank you very much. Problem: Error code Ox800CCC0E when receiving email Vista running Outlook 2007 I get a Ox800CCC0E error everytime I try to receive email on my vista business machine running Outlook 2007. This problem just started this week. I have had no such problems with outlook since I purchase the machine 5 months ago. I have tried all the troubleshooting steps on your blog : http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive...

I was asked about this a while back and thought I would share. This person has e-mail receiving problems, so I wanted to turn on logging and check that the network ports were really open on his PC: To get a mail log for more details – go to Tools/Options – then the advanced tab/Other button/Enable logging. (mine is not checked – put a tick in yours). The location of the log file can be found at: MAPI (Exchange), POP3, and SMTP transports - The log file has the name OPMLog.log and is located in one of the following locations: c:\Users\ user name \AppData\Local\Temp\Outlook Logging - note this is the location on Windows VISTA You might also want to look at http://www.webpipe.net/howto/Outlook_0x800CCC0E . You will need to install at telnet, but this is documented as: By default, Telnet is not installed with Windows, but you can install it by following the steps below. To install Telnet Client 1. Click the Start button , click Control Panel, click Programs, and then click Turn Windows features on or off. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation. 2. In the Windows Features dialog box, select the Telnet Client check box. 3. Click OK. The installation might take several minutes. If the telnet works, but Outlook cannot get mail, try running “outlook /safe” and see if the same problem happens. If it does not, then it is an add-in. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Office 2007 , Windows Vista , logging

I have been asked about this loads of times, but for those of you who want to know more about using WSS v3 and SBS 2003, the guide is finally here at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=59acc518-023e-43c3-b8f3-378c5e387461 . How to Sell, Deploy, and Build Business with Microsoft Windows Sharepoint Services 3.0 and SBS 2003 R2 Partner tool to create solutions using Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2. File Name: Selling_WSS_and_SBS_Kit.zip Date Published: 11/15/2007 Overview A new partner enablement tool helps you create solutions using Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 and Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2. Access the toolkit’s resources—including a process cookbook, technical documentation and marketing materials—to learn how to build your business by selling and deploying customized solutions. ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 R2 , SBSC , WSS v3 , WSS , SharePoint , Windows SharePoint Services

I just found the MSDN Evaluation Center online today to give you evaluation resources that you might develop against. These include BizTalk Server, Office Communication Server, Office Enterprise , SharePoint Server, SharePoint Designer, SQL Server 2005, 2008, Express 2005 SP2, Windows Server 2008. I've pasted much of the content, but all the download links etc are country specific, so I have removed those. Click on the link above to get to download this stuff! MSDN Evaluation Centre Welcome to the MSDN Evaluation Centre, the central location for all Microsoft developer product trials and beta evaluations. Try a product before you buy it or test the latest beta to see what is in store for the next release. Start at the beginning of the evaluation process and follow the new products as they go through to the final releases. Remember to check back often as new products will be added as they become available. As you evaluate your software, we'll provide you with comprehensive and relevant insights and information delivered to your inbox. Resources like: Webcasts | Virtual Labs | Community insight | White papers| E-Learning | Events Featured Evaluations BizTalk Server BizTalk 2006 R2 Regardless of the size of your organization, you need best-in class infrastructure. BizTalk Server 2006 R2 delivers enterprise-class infrastructure that enables you to connect .NET applications and infrastructure with your non .NET applications and platforms, as well as those of your partners. Office system Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Microsoft’s unified communications platform enables developers to efficiently build secure, productivity enhancing applications on top of an extensible software foundation. Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 provides a comprehensive suite of applications that developers can extend to deliver solutions that make data and processes more accessible and relevant to users. With Office Enterprise 2007 you can build solutions that give users the power to collaborate...

My dad was asking me about a branch office solution where clients connected to the AD controller, but needed to VPN to get to the AD. My preferred option is to either have a VPN on the router or a DC in the branch office, but failing both of those, perhaps this is the answer? Starting a VPN automatically on boot with Windows XP I recently needed to figure out how to make a Windows XP machine connect to a particular VPN automatically on reboot, before anyone logged into the machine. I eventually managed to assemble bits and pieces of information floating around the net into a working solution to the problem, but it wasn’t completely addressed in any single location, so I thought I’d stick the details in my blog for other people to Google and use (if you found this blog entry useful, please add a comment and let me know!). The first thing I tried was to look for a property I could set on the VPN network connection to tell Windows that I wanted this connection to start automatically when the machine boots. I couldn’t find one; I doubt there is one. <the details on how to fix this are in the blog at Something better to do » Blog Archive » Starting a VPN automatically on boot with Windows XP > ttfn David Technorati Tags: Branch Office , VPN , Windows

It is funny how things happen. I was debating with my dad which was better - building a new server and re-joining the clients, migrating via AD in a VPC to give the server the same name or adding the server and dealing with the fact that the "server" has a name change. I then told my dad that I had blogged about this and he should have read the document, only to discover that I had not. I've seen it covered in a few places. I'm always open to feedback on this sort of information. I am pro-VM based migrations but people seem to think they are too hard, so more on that would be really good. The Official SBS Blog : Migrating Windows Small Business Server 2003 ... Migrating Windows Small Business Server 2003 to New Hardware - E-Bitz ... Whitepaper - Migrating SBS 2003 to New Hardware Microsoft has released a new whitepaper and set of worksheets entitled: ” Migrating Windows Small Business Server 2003 to New Hardware “ Sections include: Migrating Windows Small Business Server 2003 to New Hardware Worksheet 1 Source and Destination Computer Information Worksheet 2 SMTP Connector Settings Worksheet 3 Exchange Server 2003 Global Settings Worksheet 4 Location of Data for Line-of-Business Applications and Location of General User Data Worksheet 5 Windows Small Business Server 2003 Settings Worksheet 6 Shared Folder Information The whitepaper outlines the following steps for migrating from an existing computer running Windows SBS 2003 to new hardware: Evaluate the current status of the source server. continued at Whitepaper - Migrating SBS 2003 to New Hardware | NoGeekLeftBehind.com ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 R2 , Migration , Tips

Obviously when I wrote the last blog entry on installing search server , not quite everything was working, although I did not realise it until a few errors appeared in the event log. The errors appear below - one is a DCOM permissions error and the other is a Gather error. The DCOM error Event Type: Error Event Source: DCOM Event Category: None Event ID: 10016 Date: 09/11/2007 Time: 06:35:26 User: NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE Computer: HOMESERVER Description: The application-specific permission settings do not grant Local Activation permission for the COM Server application with CLSID {61738644-F196-11D0-9953-00C04FD919C1} to the user NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE SID (S-1-5-20). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp. Fixing the DCOM error is all about setting permissions in the DCOM system. The magical application was IIS WAMREG admin Service. I worked this out by following the instructions in the KB article at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/920783 . The Gatherer error Event Type: Warning Event Source: Windows SharePoint Services 3 Search Event Category: Gatherer Event ID: 2436 Date: 09/11/2007 Time: 06:50:19 User: N/A Computer: HOMESERVER Description: The start address <sts3://homeserver/contentdbid={d067c159-4b98-4bb4-85d9-0d440121788b}> cannot be crawled. Context: Application 'Search index file on the search server', Catalog 'Search' Details: The object was not found. (0x80041201) For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp. This error relates to the fact that we have removed the search from http://<servername> and added a different virtual server name. If you look at http://www.kevincornwell.com/blog/index.php/windows-sharepoint-services-wss-30-search-setup-notes/ then you will see that you need to also change the Alternate Access Mappings. Do this and your event viewer errors will go!...

I saw this question recently and thought I would publish the answer: "NO, nothing special is needed, although your ISP must allow web port access" Windows Home Server uses a dynamic DNS service to enable access to http://<servername>.homeserver.com , can configure your router to open the appropriate ports (80, 443, and those needed for remote access) and if you share a guest password to your friend/relatives, they will be able to browse your pictures. More information on the domain can be found at http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver/archive/2007/08/08/homeserver-com.aspx To do it, open the Home Server Console Open the settings page Go to the remote access page Select the change or configure option to get to the main wizard Type in your Windows Live ID details (only 1 domain per ID / server) Choose the domain name you want Confirm the domain is available and press go that is it. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Windows Home Server , Tips , homeserver.com

This is an extract from the TRM blog which can be found here http://blogs.technet.com/trm/ . I have removed the KB article list and some items which I don't think are relevant to small business / ISV partners, however the full info can be found on the blog page too Documents SQL Server 2008 Product Overview For organizations to be successful and thrive in today’s world of data, they need a vision that addresses key data trends. The data platform vision of Microsoft helps organizations meet these data explosion needs and the next generation of data-driven applications. Microsoft will continue to invest in and evolve the following key areas to support their data platform vision: mission-critical enterprise data platform, dynamic development, relational data, and business intelligence. Read this paper to learn about the Microsoft Data Platform Vision and how SQL Server 2008 meets the needs of the next generation of data-driven applications. http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql2008Overview.mspx Business Intelligence in SQL Server 2008 Microsoft SQL Server 2008 makes business intelligence (BI) available to everyone through deep integration with Microsoft Office, providing the right tool, to the right user, at the right price. The result is that employees at all levels of an organization can see and help to influence the performance of the business by working with tools that are both easy to use and powerful. Integration with the 2007 Microsoft Office System enables users to view business performance in a way that they understand and which feels comfortable; and the introduction of PerformancePoint Server 2007, helps customers to gain actionable insight into the entire organization so they can monitor, analyze, and plan their businesses, as well as drive alignment, accountability, and actionable insight across the entire organization. http://www.microsoft.com/sql/techinfo/whitepapers/sql_2008_bi.mspx Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and Microsoft Data Platform Development Microsoft SQL Server 2008 and the...

This is an extract from the TRM blog which can be found here http://blogs.technet.com/trm/ . I have removed the KB article list and some items which I don't think are relevant to small business / ISV partners, however the full info can be found on the blog page too. News Microsoft Security Assessment Tool 3.0 The Microsoft Security Assessment Tool (MSAT) is a risk-assessment application designed to provide information and recommendations about best practices for security within an information technology (IT) infrastructure. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7623431 Start your Microsoft Windows 2008 Readiness Right Here Focus on readiness for Windows Server 2008 now, and you can be the one who stands out when initiatives happen - and when promotion decisions are made. Let Microsoft Learning resources give you the head start you need to transition your skills and credentials to the latest Windows Server technologies - from free elearning clinics and free ebook downloads. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7623432 Get an Extra Shot at Microsoft Certification For a limited time, you can get an extra chance to pass any Microsoft IT Professional, Developer or Microsoft Dynamics Certification exam - free. Register for this offer before your first exam and you'll get two shots at success. Register now! http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7623434 The Windows Server 2008 Upgrade Exam Is Coming Update your skills and get ready for the Windows Server 2008 certification exam with special offers on e-learning collections and classroom training. http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=7623435 Documents Windows Server 2008 Technical Overviews These technical overviews provide IT Professionals with information about how a Windows Server 2008 technology works. They may also cover design and planning considerations and basic setup and operating instructions. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=46dc26d6-af47-43f0-b3de-521831fe09d6&DisplayLang=en Windows Server 2008 Step-by-Step Guides These step-by-step guides help IT...

As you know I have been away on holiday and I fly away again tomorrow. While I was traveling I asked my dad to send me a recipe for some scones. He was unable to find the OCR tool in Office 2007, but with the help of OneNote 2007 it was very easy. Paste the image you wish to OCR into OneNote and let it do the rest. I found the answer at OneNote 2007: OCR Rocks this researcher's world | Techwillow where there is more information, but in summary: This is how it works: Take any image of text, paste it into OneNote, right-click on it and select Copy Text from Picture . That's it, you can then paste it anywhere as text. What's more OneNote will automatically OCR and index all your images (if you enable this in the settings) so you can search through your clippings. Now, of course you might not have OneNote, but that does not mean you don't get scanning. As the project at http://www.codeproject.com/office/modi.asp points out, you can use their code and the Office 2007 scanning tools to make it work too. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Office 2007 , OCR

You have seen the Exchange, SQL, Security and Windows best practice scanners, well now we have all that SBS expertise wrapped up into an SBS scanner - enjoy!! SBS now has a Best Practices Analyzer! The Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Best Practices Analyzer examines a server that is running Windows Small Business Server 2003 (Windows SBS) and presents a list of information and errors that administrators should review. The Windows SBS Best Practices Analyzer examines the server and collects configuration information from many sources including: Active Directory Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) Registry Metabase After collecting information about server configuration, the Windows SBS Best Practices Analyzer verifies that the information is correct and then presents administrators with a list of issues sorted by severity. The list describes each issue and provides a recommendation or possible solution. System Requirements Supported Operating Systems: Windows Small Business Server 2003 (Any version of Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003) Links KB article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/940439 Download http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3874527A-DE19-49BB-800F-352F3B6F2922&displaylang=en So take a look and let us know what you think about it! (Feedback email address is in the KB article). The Official SBS Blog : SBS now has a Best Practices Analyzer! ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 R2 , Best practices , If you only read one post today

I have been asked several times how someone can have an e-mail alias, such as "support@mycompany.com" which not only receives into a public folder, but also has the ability to send e-mails. Obviously the setting up of the public folder, e-mail etc is well documented, but since I have been asked this again I thought I would share my source of knowledge - How to Give a User the Ability to Send Mail on Behalf of a Public Folder How to Give a User the Ability to Send Mail on Behalf of a Public Folder To give a user the ability to send mail on behalf of a public folder, perform the following procedure. In Exchange System Manager, under Folders , right-click the public folder for which you want to give a user the ability to send mail, and then click Properties . Click Exchange General , and then click Delivery Options . Click Add to specify a user. You may have to make additional modifications if the following conditions are true: The user's mailbox resides in a domain that is different from the public folder's domain. The user's mailbox resides on a server that is located in a site that does not contain any domain controllers for the domain that hosts the public folder. Use one of the following additional steps: Add the Exchange Domain Servers security group of the child domain with Read permissions to the ACL of the Microsoft Exchange System Objects container in the parent domain. This method is the recommended method for working around this problem. Move one domain controller from the parent domain to the user's Exchange 2003 site. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Exchange , SBS 2003 , Send e-mail from public folder

You may have seen a number of videos that I have recorded that were screen captures and my voice. To do this I use the tools from Techsmith - Snagit. For £24 I was able to buy the tools to record my screen and put it all together. Overall I think it was a great investment which you can also get from http://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.asp . I have stored my videos on Windows Live Storage - more details of all the videos at Videos on Office usage - Document Inspector, Excel Templates and formatting, Outlook on the go and enhancing word documents for Office and Videos on Vista usage - Checking for updates, Backup options, Offline file options, How to use security in Internet Explorer, Sharing files for Vista. While SnagIt produces .AVI files, good of Windows Movie Maker did the last little conversion to WMV files. If you want output to many other formats, Nick has some pointers to more locations at Techsmith release new SnagIt Accessories - Nick Whittome - The Naked MVP . ttfn David Technorati Tags: Snagit

I have documented some of these before, but now all of them are here. - How to backup information in Vista using Restore Previous Versions, writing to DVDs and the built in backup tools - How to use Windows Updates to get patches for the system - How Internet Explorer 7 and Vista protect you - just remember to say no!! - How to take files offline in Vista and Outlook (for SharePoint files) - Sharing files using Windows Messenger ttfn David Technorati Tags: Vista

I have documented some of these videos before, but I thought I would document them all now - How to use the document inspector - How to find a template for Excel and then customise it for UK dates and currency, change the formatting and more - How to use conditional formatting in Excel - How to use Outlook Web Access and Outlook Anywhere (RPC over HTTP) - How to enhance a document using various things - cover pages, table of contents, pictures, smart art, formatting ttfn David Technorati Tags: Office 2007

Someone asked today why Windows Home Server has the Windows Desktop Search tool on the box and the reply that came back I thought was worth of a blog entry. When you connect to a share on Windows Home Server (eg \\homeserver\music ) and do a search in the top right corner, then your Vista PC will search the WDS index and not the actual files, meaning that I can search by 400 albums for anything related to Disney in about 1/4 of a second :-) Nice! ttfn David Technorati Tags: Windows Home Server , Vista , Windows Desktop Search

I have spoken before about how to install WSS on the SBS box, so it was quite nice to see the article on how to install on a member server - much simpler to do many less problems. Installing WSS v3 on a Member Server in an SBS Network If you’ve got a member server in your SBS network (especially if that server is a beefy SQL box) it may make sense from a performance standpoint to install Windows SharePoint Services version 3 on the member server instead of directly on the SBS box. This is actually a pretty straight-forward process, but in case you’re not totally comfortable with WSS v3 yet, the procedure is documented below using a combination of a Microsoft e-book and the WSS on SBS instructions Chad came up with for SBS. Installing WSS v3 on a Member Server in an SBS Network | NoGeekLeftBehind.com ttfn David Technorati Tags: WSS v3 , SharePoint , SBS 2003

I should have mentioned this before, but I appear to have been a bit bad at reading others blog and forwarding on :-) Anyway, since the release notes for SP2 can't be updated, here are the latest best practice KB articles. This is just a quick note about the availability of a new KB published today to help consolidate some of the information that we've posted on this blog. Best practices and known issues when you install Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 on a Windows Small Business Server 2003-based computer http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=939421 The Official SBS Blog : New Best Practices for SP2 KB ttfn David Technorati Tags: Windows Server 2003 SP2 , Best Practices

I have been asked a couple of times if there has been any updated info on the 70-282 exam and information on it. While looking through old blog entries I found this: A free webcast series hosted throughout the month of May by David Fabritius is being offered at MSReadiness.com. More information is available here - http://msreadiness.com/study70-282r2 . The Official SBS Blog : Studying for 70-282? This takes you to the MS Web site, where I found out that all the webcasts happened in the past, but the recording and blog are still there for you: To access the Study Group blog, visit us at http://blogs.technet.com/BackRoom . Using Self Test Software's great data bank of approved practice exam questions, we will review the material for the week on Fridays and help you check your preparedness for the actual exam. We will not only be looking at why an answer is correct, but also exploring why answers are wrong. Syllabus for 70-282 Study Group All of the sessions outlined below will be presented at 10 AM PDT on their respective days. The primary references for this webcast series are: Small Business Specialist Primer & 70-282 Exam Preparation Guide by Mulzer and Brelsford Published by SMB Nation Press, ISBN-10: 0-9748-5803-X, ISBN-13: 978-0974858036 Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 Administrator’s Companion by Russel, Crawford, and Gerend Published by MS Press, ISBN-10: 0-7356-2020-2, ISBN-13: 978-0735620209 Session 1 , 5/7/2007 Analyzing the Existing Environment & Designing a Business Technology Solution for a Small- to Medium-sized Company, Part 1 Primer, Chapter 3 & pp. 4-15 to 4-18; Companion, pp. 36-39 Session 2 , 5/8/2007 Designing a Business Technology Solution for a Small- to Medium-sized Company, Part 2 & Expanding the Windows Small Business Server 2003 Network Primer, Chapters 4 and 9 Week 1 Practice , 5/11/2007 Sample questions and Q&A from sessions 1 and 2, Analysis & Design Session 3 , 5/14/2007 Installing Windows Small Business Server 2003 Primer, Chapter 5; Companion...

This question was asked in the forum, but after a bit of research I thought I would share this more broadly. Here is what I discovered: There is a group policy object to enable / disable task manager You can also replace the file that gets run when Task Manager is requested, but this is done using the debug options Group Policy to enable / disable For the Group Policy options, a quick search on Live Search takes me to http://www.infopackets.com/channels/en/windows/gazette/2003/20030821_enable_taskmanager_for_windows_2000_and_xp.htm which basically points to: Open Regedit Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Software \ Microsoft \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ System. Look for: DisableTaskMgr. Click on REG_DWORD. Value: 1=Enable this key (disables TaskManager) Value: 0=Disable (actually enables TaskManager) Replace Task Manager with another program Then for the how to replace the program you basically need to set the options for taskmgr.exe to replace it with another program using the debug options. This means that you want to do the following: Open Regedit Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ SOFTWARE \ Microsoft \ Windows NT \ CurrentVersion \ Image File Execution Options \ taskmgr.exe Look for: Debugger - if it exists then the program listed gets executed, if it is not present then taskmgr.exe is executed eg "Debugger"="C:\SOFTWARE\TOOLS\PROCESSEXPLORER\PROCEXP.EXE" Now while this sounds simple, if you have UAC on and the program you are calling requires elevation then you will hit problems. http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/replacing-task-manager-with-process-explorer-in-vista discusses how to work around them. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Windows , Vista , Task Manager

Just to recap on these links since I still get questions about the Transition Pack. These are some good starting points for understanding Transition Pack (pay special attention to the registry key portion if they have Backup Exec installed): http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2006/01/12/417350.aspx and http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive/2006/02/24/420521.aspx ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 , Translation Pack

Data on disks needs defragging. This is an age old wise saying associated with PCs. Windows Home Server is no different, however traditional defrag tools will struggle with the disk layout of Windows Home Server. To this end, WHS specific tools are beginning to ship and Tom has provided some details on his blog. deFrag That Windows Home Server! Posted on September 21, 2007 by Tom Two new defragmentation products are hitting the market for Windows Home Server. 1. Raxco PerfectDisk 8.0 for Windows Home Server The Power of PerfectDisk PerfectDisk 8 for Windows Home Server brings the power of PerfectDisk 8 to the Windows Home Server environment. Complete single-pass disk defragmentation and optimization, along with PerfectDisk’s exclusive Space Restoration Technology’s free space consolidation are easily available to the Windows Home Server drives. Download Evaluation Edition | Purchase Diskeeper for Windows Home Server 2. Diskeeper 2008 for Windows Home Server Diskeeper 2007 for Windows Home Server will not be available until later this year. But in the mean time Terry with We Got Served has arranged with Diskeeper for a 45-day trial of Diskeeper 2007 for Windows Home Server, to be available to the public. Download Diskeeper 2007 for Windows Home Server deFrag That Windows Home Server! « Ramblings of a Home Server User ttfn David Technorati Tags: Windows Home Server , Defrag

I saw this and thought I would pass it on since I was talking to one of my customers about this yesterday. To get to the two calculators go to Windows Server Virtualization Calculators Windows Server Virtualization Calculators The Windows Server Virtualization Calculators provide two ways to estimate the number and cost of Windows Server Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition and Datacenter Edition licenses needed for your virtualization scenarios to help you determine the most cost-effective edition of Windows Server. Calculator 1 is designed to estimate the licenses and cost of Windows Server by editions and numerous Microsoft server products on a single, physical server. Calculator 2 is designed to estimate the licenses and cost of only Windows Server by edition for one or multiple physical servers. The calculators are pre-populated with the US dollar Open agreement Estimated Retail Prices that you can update with your organization's prices for more accurate estimates. Calculator 1 lets you interactively build virtual machines running multiple Microsoft server products to estimate the licenses and costs for Windows Server by edition (Standard, Enterprise and Datacenter) and many Microsoft server products. It starts with configuring your server based on virtualization technology, sockets and clustering requirements, and then builds the virtual machines. Calculator 2 provides two ways to estimate the number and cost of Windows Server Standard Edition, Enterprise Edition and Datacenter Edition licenses needed for your virtualization scenarios to help you determine the most cost-effective edition of Windows Server. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Virtualisation , Calculators , Licensing

This is just a small tip that I recently saw. If you wish to change the e-mail that is sent to new users when they are set up on SBS 2003 then you need to edit the html file found in this location: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Windows Small Business Server\Administration\samplemail.htm that is it :-) ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 R2 , Tips , New User , e-mail

I am sure many of you have seen that we launched a new wave of the Live suite (Windows Live Writer - which I am using right now, Messenger, Sign-in Assistant, Family Safety, Mail, Toolbar and Photo Gallery - which also uploaded videos to MSN Soapbox). If you want to more about these cool product, go to http://get.live.com/wl/all where it tells you that this is what you get: Connect Hotmail: Next-generation e-mail on the Web Mail: Multiple e-mail accounts on your desktop Messenger: Connect, share, and make every conversation count Find Search: Say hello to the next generation of search Toolbar: Think outside the search box Gallery: Personalize your Windows Live experience Share Spaces: Your blog, your photos, your social network SkyDrive: Password-protected online storage and sharing Photo Gallery: Edit and share photos and videos Writer: Easily publish pictures, videos, and other rich content to your blog Protect OneCare Family Safety: Help keep your kids safe online Get it together Windows Live Home: Start here for search, blogging, e-mail, and more Now some partners and customers have notices a little problem - getting this great stuff running on 64-bit Windows. An extract from anti|tgtsoft shows the best way forward (which is obviously not supported, but all told seems to work just fine): Here’s how to get the latest builds installed on your machine: Patch WLinstaller.exe At offset 0×1B9F0, change 74 to EB Execute WLinstaller.exe Attempt to install all products, ignore the installer errors and exit Navigate to %systemroot%\Syswow64\config\systemprofile\AppData\ Local\WindowsLiveInstaller\MsiSources Use the handy dandy chart below to install the products you want to install/update. Windows Live Writer Install_{1F973A7F-3FE4-4D11-A9A2-E869C2899A7D}.msi Windows Live Messenger Install_{508CE775-4BA4-4748-82DF-FE28DA9F03B0}.msi Windows Live Sign-In Assistant Install_{CB5EA99C-8A5B-49F2-9A1A-2EF78BE4DB41}.msi Windows Live Mail Install_{EDB619FD-4E71-403C-8E99-DFC9CF9DD345}.msi Windows Live Toolbar Install_{C6876FE6-A314...

I was contacted by Gerald who had this problem and after a bit of research I found the answer. The text explaining how to do this can be found at http://www.word07.com/locking.htm , however to explain a bit more, here are a few pictures and words. The problem arises when you "group" some text in the developer tab, so the answer is to ungroup it. 1st off, ensure the developer tab is showing by going to the file (round pearl menu button in the top left corner) and selecting the button on the bottom of the menu called "Word Options". This will bring you up a screen as below Now ensure the developer toolbar is enabled with a tick as in the picture Go to the document and find the text that you can't modify Ensure the developer toolbar is displayed and click in the document where the text is and then press the Group button in the toolbar and press the Ungroup option as below That is it - you should now be able to modify the text without any problems. If this does not solve your problem, please e-mail me at admin@davidoverton.com with contact details as Microsoft are keen to get further information to investigate the problem and resolve it. thanks David Technorati Tags: Locked selection , Word 2007 , Office 2007 , Developer Ribbon

I got this e-mail today from the UK SharePoint User Group. They have two meetings coming up, one in Reading and one in Newcastle. Since SBS includes WSS and you can easily load WSS v3 onto it too, here are the details: Newcastle - 10th September MOSS MVP and general all round nice guy Spencer Harbar will be presenting an evening of goodness for all that attend. Arrive 6:30 for a 7pm start 1st Presentation: MOSS Server Farm Architecture & Design. This session introduces the fundamentals of MOSS Farm design including server roles, topology constraints and design goals which are paramount for delivery of a secure, available and scalable MOSS hosting platform. Each server roles’ unique characteristics will be covered with their associated trade-offs. In addition, three common models will be presented with a discussion of their strengths and weaknesses. 20 minute food and drinks break 2nd Presentatoin: Top 10 Tips for your SharePoint Development Environment. This session will present 10 essential tips, tricks, tweaks or utilities for making your SharePoint Development easier and quicker. All tips can be used equally in a Virtual Machine or on a “real” server. Many of the tips are also useful for systems administrators working with SharePoint 2007 location: BT, Unit 7, room 3, Innovation Place , Delta Bank, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE11 9DJ Please post your full name here if you with to attend. Reading - 17th September The famous Patrick Tisseghem is over from Belgium so it seemed like a great opportunity to arrange a meeting. 1800 - 1830 arrive 1830 - 1930 - OBA, Office Business Applications Explained - Patrick Tissegham This talk provides an overview of Office Business Applications. OBAs connect Line of Business (LOB) systems with the people that use them through the familiar user interface of Microsoft Office. They enable businesses to extend the Microsoft Office clients and servers into business processes running in LOB applications such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM),...

I have been known to write the odd program, often using a large number of arrays for some of the manipulation I do. Multi-dimensional arrays is something I have done a lot of, so seeing this little tip from CodeGuru to speed them up and reduce memory footprint is a great benefit for me. Below are a few snippets, but read the whole article to know more. Jag It Up What is a jagged array, and why does it have such an alarming name? I can't answer the second question, but I'll give the first one a shot. A jagged array is essentially just a one-dimensional array where each element contains its own one-dimension array. It's an array of arrays! (For those who just must jump ahead—you know who you are—yes, you can indeed have arrays of arrays of arrays through infinity or until your memory runs out. But, let's not go there now....) How is an array of arrays different from a two-dimensional array? I'm glad you asked. This is where the jaggy bit comes in. In a two-dimensional array, you have a fixed number of elements in each dimension. It might be 10 by 10, providing 100 elements, for example. In a jagged array, your primary array has a fixed number of elements, but then each element array can have any number of elements. So, you could have a primary array with 10 elements, where the first element holds an array of 12 elements, the second has 7 elements, the third has 20, and so on. If you imagine the 10 by 10 array as a square, the right edge of that square becomes quite jagged when it is replaced with the array-of-arrays. The benefit that immediately comes to mind is a savings in memory—you only use the number of elements needed for each element array, rather than giving a second dimension the maximum number of elements you'll ever need and then having a lot of blanks. The benefit that's not obvious is the accelerated processing time! So, how do you declare a jagged array in your code? Here's an example: Dim EmployeesByRegion()() As Integer = {_ New Integer() { 12, 25, 7, 33, 2 }, _ New Integer...

I am one of those people who always leaves UAC enabled - I like to see when something (*cough* - Adobe Update - *cough*) wants to execute with admin privilege on my system and then get the choice as to whether to allow it or not. However, not everyone likes the choices that are presented by default with the GPOs ( Group Policy Objects ). Coming to the rescue are tools to help enhance these offerings, such as the Privilege Manager from BeyondTrust. Sometimes people forget that Microsoft is a platform for others to build on and this is no different. Their product enables pre-defining the responses to UAC based on a number of variables. While I have NOT tried the product, it is getting good reviews. You can however download an eval copy for free if you so desire. One thing to bear in mind is that when a tool like this is used, you weaken security - why, well, even if you use a SHA1 hash to work out if an application is safe or not, a clever hacker will use plugins, dll's etc to attack that product - it does not have to have the main .exe file to breach the security and once they are in, they are in. You can find out more about Privilege Manager from the FAQ at BeyondTrust | Privilege Manager FAQ , however a short snippet is below (which I have cut around, so there is much more under each section): Applications are targeted on the Application tab, which allows you to specify an application by one of several criteria. This includes: Path to an executable file supports wildcards and environment variables Folder of one or more executable files including wildcards and environment variables Hash rule SHA1 hash of the targeted executable file MSI Path rule target Windows Installer installation of specified packages MSI Folder rule ActiveX rule My gift to those of you who are UAC challenged :-) ttfn David Technorati Tags: UAC , Vista , Security , Group Policy

I seem to have been asked this a number of times recently, so here is the answer. To take a public folder offline, simply add it to your favourites and then enable synching of public folders. Mark the public folder as a favourite (right click on the folder and select make favourite Go into your account settings and ensure that public folders are enabled for caching Tools / Account / Properties for the Exchange Account / More Settings / Advanced - then tick the box Now, when you sync the favourite public folders will be copied too. That is it ttfn David Technorati Tags: Offline , Public Folders

You can tell from the title the favourite things I have found testing the latest version of Hotmail - well it is now public - we start rolling these features and more out over the Hotmail clusters. For more information look at the Ellie Powers-Boyle blog post Your mail is here, come and get it!: August: Hotmail will soon bring you more of your requests, better.performance . Obviously if you are a Office Live customer then you will also see these changes coming to you. For the international of us, I have called "Vacation Replies" Out of Office - you know what I mean then :-) 13 August August: Hotmail will soon bring you more of your requests, better performance We went out of beta in May, and we’re already releasing something new. Today, these new features will begin to roll our gradually to all our customers over the next few weeks, so if you don’t immediately see them, be patient, they’re coming! It’s a fun time to be working on Hotmail. We already did a ton of work to get the basics ready to get out of beta, so now we’ve been able to add some more of the extras that our more advanced users have been asking for. We’re continuing to collect feedback and using it to guide which areas of the product to improve next. Thanks to all of you who were beta testers, have clicked the “feedback” link in Hotmail, or leave constructive comments on the blog. We’re listening! Performance : We’ve been hearing you loud and clear across the world: speed is one of the most important aspects of a web-based email service. We’ve spent more time in this release identifying what parts of the product are slowest and fixing those. We hope that you notice an improvement when this update is released to your account, and we’ll continue our work on performance in future releases. Quality of Service : Our last release went quite smoothly, and we’ve been continuing to monitor the live site to make sure that we’re providing e-mail that is reliable – you always want to be able to get to your mail, and we hear you! More storage! Just when...

In my new role I find I need to get up to speed on the MS Dev technologies. I found the page Explore Web Development with ASP.NET 2.0 which seems to have lots of education for me in the ASP.Net 2.0 world. Microsoft ASP.NET is a set of Web application development technologies that enables programmers to build dynamic Web sites, web applications, and XML Web services. Whether you already use ASP.NET 2.0 or want to start, watch our webcasts and participate in our virtual labs to see what it can do for you. This series will help you learn about the improvements in ASP.NET 2.0 and better understand how you can utilize ASP.NET 2.0 to create faster, more secure Web applications. Webcasts During this series, learn how you can use membership and personalization to build rich Web sites, use the new provider model to customize ASP.NET for your enterprise, and more. Virtual Labs Take part in these virtual labs to learn about the major improvements introduced with ASP.NET 2.0 and see how you can create richer Web applications. It's simple—no complex setup or installation is required. You get a downloadable manual and a 90-minute block of time for each module, and you can sign up for additional 90-minute blocks anytime. Virtual Labs for you to participate in: ASP.NET 2.0 Configuration and Health Monitoring ASP.NET 2.0 Creating a Web Site ASP.NET 2.0 Data Access ASP.NET 2.0 Membership, Login Controls, and Role Management ASP.NET 2.0 User Interface Enhancements: Master Pages, Themes, and Controls Webcasts still to happen: MSDN Webcast: ADO.NET Step by Step (Part 15 of 16): Reading and Writing XML and the XmlDataDocument (Level 200) Wednesday, August 15, 2007 9:00 A.M.–10:00 A.M. Pacific Time MSDN Webcast: Silverlight 1.0 Overview (Level 200) Wednesday, August 15, 2007 11:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. Pacific Time MSDN Webcast: ADO.NET Step by Step (Part 16 of 16): Using ADO and ADOX in the .NET Framework (Level 200) Wednesday, August 22, 2007 9:00 A.M.–10:00 A.M. Pacific Time MSDN Webcast: Building ASP.NET AJAX Applications for Windows...

Hi folks, this is a really simple one - I had the pleasure of answering some questions at a TechNet chat a few weeks back - that chat has now had a polished transcript published on the web at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/chats/trans/sbs/07_0713_tn_sbs.mspx . thanks David Technorati Tags: SBS , SBS 2003 , SBS 2003 R2 , Technet , Chat

Part 2 or 3 for the Webcast series was how to configure SBS and discussed things like disk, memory, dual NICs, firewalls and the Pop3 connector. The presentation can be found here . Useful links from the presentation: WSUS upgrade documentation http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2007/05/02/installing-wsus-3-0-on-sbs-white-paper-released-including-when-you-already-got-wsus-on-there-or-need-to-upgrade.aspx Transition pack http://uksbsguy.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2006/09/18/Transition-Pack-for-Windows-SBS-2003-R2.aspx The questions from the event: Is there anything different we need to do on the server with Win Mobile 6 devices? No, it works, but you still need to be aware of the need for a certificate by a trusted root authority on the SBS box for Smartphones (just the same as all previous versions) On the install it showed Active sync 3.8 available to install, why not the latest version? I have not updated the box, but you can load a later version of ActiveSync onto SBS What is the URL to access outlook web access? https://www.mydomain.com/exchange or via https://www.mydomain/remote When you do http://SERVER/ConnectComputer does it setup the outlook profile? Yes Is it possible to upgrade from SBS2003 to WIN2003? Yes, using the transition pack as discussed in the slides When you set up a folder for users do you have to setup a share and permissions as well? No, this is done for you When you set up a folder for users do you have to setup a share and permissions as well Answered: This is all done automatically - each user has a folder created that only they can access - it is automatic - nothing for you to do, except for turning on Redirect My Documents in the SBS user manager What about if you have a general folder on another drive that you want a group of users to access Answered: then you can share and set up access as per any windows server ttfn David Technorati Tags: SBS 2003 , SBS 2003 R2 , Network Setup

OK, this is in response to the people who have posted on this subject. Someone was kind enough to give me the exact details, but I shall protect my sources except to say they know the insides of MS tools well. The warning here is that this is unsupported and could completely destroy your users profiles, so only do this is you are comfortable editing the registry The short description: Open up Regedit navigate to [HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows Messaging Subsystem\Profiles\<ProfileName>\13dbb0c8aa05101a9bb000aa002fc45a] Find the key 00036601 (REG_BINARY) - note the number in it now so you can undo the changes if needed Change the value to one of the following enabled value; 84 01 00 00 - note that on my desktop system the enabled value is 84 19 00 00, so play around with this a little enabled with Public Folders/Favorites: 84 05 00 00 disabled value; 04 00 00 00 FYI - you will need to search for "00036601" and adjust ALL of them since each key is for a different user on your system. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Cached Mode in Outlook , Office 2007 , Terminal Services

Malware Removal Kit The Malware Removal Kit is a download from TechNet that provides you with excellent guidance and tools to help you restore PCs infected with malware. The newest Solution Accelerator from Microsoft, it provides free, tested guidance to help you combat malware attacks and restore infected systems - so users can safely get back to work. The kit shows you how to use the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) to discover malware by performing a thorough offline scan of your computers, uncovering malware that may be hiding in the operating system. And once malware is located and identified, it can be quickly removed from infected PCs with a number of free anti-malware tools, like the Malicious Software Removal Tool from Microsoft. ttfn David Technorati Tags: Malware Removal , WinPE , Security

This information is from the last 2 Technet Newsletters ( http://www.microsoft.com/technet ). Webcasts that have occurred in the past are available for download by clicking on the URLs. Blogs Exchange Team Blog http://msexchangeteam.com/default.aspx Outlook Team Blog http://blogs.msdn.com/outlook/default.aspx Awards Exchange Server wins CRN award The 2007 CRN Channel Champions Awards have been recently announced! http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2007/05/11/438675.aspx Evaluation Quickly Evaluate Microsoft and Partner Solutions Through a Series of Pre-Configured Virtual Hard Disks Microsoft Exchange on virtual hard disk (VHD) lets you try out the key features of Exchange Server 2007. With the VHD Test Drive program, you can download VHDs and evaluate them for free in your own environment, without the need for dedicated servers or complex installations. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=692a6e3c-81c9-4d8a-93fa-266d651735dc&DisplayLang=en Educating Information Workers About Exchange Server 2007 The information and procedures in this document focus on the information worker features that can be accessed on a computer that is running Exchange Server 2007 that has the Client Access or Unified Messaging server role installed. This document provides overviews of these features and the tasks you must perform to manage and configure them. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=19&SrcDisplayLang=en&SrcCategoryId=&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3d31f73783-0517-4b02-84bc-1fd957eb2f3c%26DisplayLang%3den 1 June 2007 : TechNet Webcast: Exchange Server 2007 Client Access and Web Services (Level 200) In this webcast, we focus on Client Access Services in Microsoft Exchange Server 2007. The overall goal of Client Access Services is to add value to the data in your inbox by enabling you to access that data from any location. We explain how to access inbox data using Microsoft Office Outlook, Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access (OWA), and mobile devices...

I saw this had been published and thought I would share - it is an amazing tool that I use for diagnosis all the time. Reading http://www.ditii.com/2007/07/03/network-monitor-31-released/ it also reminded me that this includes traces on wireless networks!! Microsoft Network Monitor 3.1 Network Monitor 3.1 is a protocol analyzer. It allows you to capture network traffic, view and analyze it. Version 3.1 is an update and replaces Network Monitor 3.0. Network Monitor 3.x is a complete overhaul of the previous Network Monitor 2.x version. Supported Operating Systems: Windows Server 2003; Windows Server 2003 x64 editions; Windows Vista; Windows XP; Windows XP 64-bit It is suggested that you have a CPU of 1GHz or greater, 1G or greater of Memory and 25 Megs of available Hard Disk space, plus room for capture files. Supports Vista 64 bit as well as 32 bit. Instructions Network Monitor 3.1 can co-exist with Netmon2.x. NM3.1 installs in %program files%\Microsoft Network Monitor 3, so there is no conflict. But it will require that NM3.0 be uninstalled first. The NM3.1 install will do this automatically for you. For Vista, we have a new driver that supports new features available in the NDIS 6.0 driver. If you are using tools that rely on Network Monitor 2.x NPPTools, these tools will no longer work. Capturing on Vista requires NM3.0 or NM3.1, as Netmon2.x does not capture properly on Vista. Warning: Capturing with the NM3 GUI with conversations enabled can use up considerable amount of memory. This may cause a machine to become unresponsive. If you need to capture data for long periods of time, please use the included command line utility, NMCap, and the /DisableConversations switch. Download details: Microsoft Network Monitor 3.1 ttfn David Technorati Tags: NetMon , Network Monitor , Network , Windows Vista , Windows Server 2003 R2 , SBS 2003 , troubleshooting

[updated 24th January 2009 with new download location for x64 systems] [updated 31st December 2009 with Windows 7 information] I have been asked this question several times and finally dug into the system to make it work. N.B. while this will work with Windows 7 the "agent" will have a pink background. Given the age of this technology it is unlikely to be fixed. The solution The Office Assistant relies on some "agent" technologies. To fix this we need to install the agent technologies and then copy a DLL across. Since I was playing around it is possible that there is an extra step or two that is not actually needed, but since this is a small process and simple to do I don't think it will do any harm. What is more, I was not about to rebuild a system, load Vista and Office 2003 just to see if I could remove a 10 second step :-) Download the MSAgent technology from http://www.microsoft.com/msagent - select the CORE files, so for me that was this item - Download the Microsoft Agent core components (395 KB exe) Download the MSAgent2.exe file from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=E11BF712-7862-45BA-826D-44AE3A11836F&displaylang=en Run the download, accepting the UAC prompt (the security prompt) - select the option "This program installed correctly" Open an elevated command prompt - have a look at How to start an administrative (or elevated) command prompt and tell if you got it right (in Vista) if you are unsure how to do this. The window should have the title " Administrator: Command Prompt " if you have it right. type the following commands into the prompt (each line will probably start with "c:\windows\system32>" - don't worry about this (if you are using a x64 (64-bit) version of Windows replace "system32" with "system" in the commands below) copy c:\windows\msagent\agentdpv.dll c:\windows\system32 regsvr32 c:\windows\msagent\agentdpv.dll That is it. If you get error messages check the command prompt has the...

I have been asked this many times following up on the blog entry Installing Office 2003 and Office 2007 on the same system where once people have removed the problem with the End User Licensing Agreement (EULA) appearing every time they start Office they then get the dialogs below every time they switch between Word 2007 and Word 2003. when starting Word 2003 when starting Word 2007 The fix to the problem is very simple as it turns out - simply run the following commands (by pressing the Windows Key+R or typing it into the Start/Run command box. Use the line with Office\11.0 if you have Office 2003 installed and Office\12.0 if you have Office 2007 installed. You can use both if you have both installed : reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Word\Options /v NoReReg /t REG_DWORD /d 1 reg add HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Options /v NoReReg /t REG_DWORD /d 1 That is it. Office 2007 might want to have one more spin round the block with it's configuration dialog box, but that should be it. ttfn David Technorati tags: Office 2003 , Office 2007 Deployment blocker fixed , Word 2003 , Word 2007 , Vista , Install , Same machine